BATON ROUGE — A federal judge Friday ordered that no Louisiana school post a copy of the Ten Commandments until Nov. 15 at the earliest as he attempts to resolve a lawsuit filed by groups claiming their display would violate a constitutional separation between church and state.

U.S. District Judge John DeGravelles had asked the parties to settle on a date late enough that would allow him to address issues in the case. Lawmakers this year directed that every public school classroom, including those at universities, post the Ten Commandments, and set a Jan. 1 deadline for doing so.

In a brief ruling, DeGravelles said the parties were not waiving any arguments by agreeing to the delayed implementation of the law. For its part, Louisiana schools, including Superintendent Cade Brumley, can take no steps toward requiring the postings, he said.

"No Defendant will post the Ten Commandments in any public-school classroom before November 15, 2024," the judge wrote Friday. "Defendant Cade Brumley and defendant members of the Board of Education and Secondary Education will not, before November 15, 2024, promulgate advice, rules, or regulations regarding proper implementation of the challenged statute."

The lawsuit was filed in June by parents of Louisiana public school children with various religious backgrounds, who said the law violates First Amendment language forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty. Backers of the law argue that the Ten Commandments belong in classrooms because the commandments are historical and are part of the foundation of U.S. law.

Lester Duhe, a spokesman for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, said the defendants “agreed to not take public-facing compliance measures until November 15” to provide time for briefs, arguments and a ruling.

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but rather served a plainly religious purpose.

In 2005, the Supreme Court held that such displays in a pair of Kentucky courthouses violated the Constitution. At the same time, the court upheld a Ten Commandments marker on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol in Austin.

Louisiana's new law does not require school systems to spend public money on Ten Commandments posters. It allows the systems to accept donated posters or money to pay for the displays.

The law also specifically authorizes but does not require other postings in public schools, including The Mayflower Compact, which was signed by religious pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and is often referred to as America’s “First Constitution”; the Declaration of Independence; and the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government in the Northwest Territory — in the present day Midwest — and created a pathway for admitting new states to the Union.

The legal challenge to the law came soon after it was signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued the following statement about the decision:

"The law is not “paused,” “blocked,” or “halted.” No posters are going up before November 15 because certain legal actions take time, specifically publishing rules through BESE, in addition to creating the posters. The court was considering schedules for motions, briefing, oral argument and issuing a decision. All the parties agreed nothing would occur until November 15. The compliance date of January 2025 has not changed (and lawyers have no authority to change it). The judge declined expediting the briefing schedule because nothing would have occurred that justified it."