Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public schools across the state. The corporate media’s reaction to this development is best described as a collective muted hysteria.
Each of the major networks filed a brief denouncing the bill in its own particular way. ABC's World News Tonight anchor David Muir took the opportunity to snark about the Supreme Court. Below is that report in its entirety:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
6/19/24
6:44 PM
DAVID MUIR: This evening, Louisiana is the first state to require the Ten Commandments now be displayed in every public classroom from kindergarten to state-funded universities. 30 years ago, the Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Kentucky, citing separation of church and state. Louisiana's law could face a similar challenge now, but it would come before today’s more conservative High Court.
Perhaps the Court repeals Louisiana’s law, or it doesn’t. But the left and their media never pass up on a chance to take a shot at conservatives. And so it is that Muir engages in this mindless speculation, which in this heated political climate could place Supreme Court justices at risk of violence.
Per CBS, the ACLU is going to sue Louisiana. Also, the Ten Commandments will be funded privately. NBC echoed similar themes in their brief.
CBS EVENING NEWS
6/19/24
6:41 PM
NORAH O’DONNELL: And Louisiana’s governor just signed a new bill that orders all public classrooms to display the Ten Commandments in large, easily readable font. CBS's Elise Preston explains.
ELISE PRESTON: Tonight, Norah, Louisiana has become the first state in the country to require poster-size copies like this one of the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. Republican governor Jeff Landry signed the bill into law today. In a statement, the ACLU says it's planning to file a lawsuit, saying the new law is blatantly unconstitutional, and violates the separation of church and state. Supporters say private donations will be used to put up the displays, not state funds.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
6/19/24
6:40 PM
LESTER HOLT: In Louisiana, the Ten Commandments will now be displayed in every public school classroom under a controversial bill signed into law today by Republican governor Jeff Landry. Louisiana becomes the first state to mandate such a requirement. Opponents say the law is unconstitutional.
This story is ultimately less about the actual Ten Commandments than about what they represent in this particular instance: a challenge to the left’s monopoly on what can be taught in schools. Said differently, Louisiana challenges the (secular) religious orthodoxies of the public education system as run by left-wing administrators in unison with the teachers’ unions.
This is why the parents’ rights battles as waged in Florida and elsewhere were covered so virulently, and why the media were quick to co-opt activist language when reporting parent’s rights bills as “Don’t Say Gay”. The media have no problem with kindergarteners being taught on gender, or on third and fourth-graders having access to graphic sexual materials in school libraries. But the Ten Commandments are a bridge too far.
The leftwing media see this bill for the challenge to the system that it is and have acted accordingly.
