A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a new law passed by Louisiana legislators mandating the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom in the state.

Louisiana is the first state to try to enact a law forcing the display of the Biblical directives since a similar law in Kentucky was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1980 as a violation of the First Amendment.

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In his decision, U.S District Court Judge John W. deGravelles said the law is “unconstitutional on its face.” He said it’s “coercive to students, and, for all practical purposes, they cannot opt out of viewing the Ten Commandments when they are displayed in every classroom, every day of the year, every year of their education.”

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“There are any number of ways that the state could advance an alleged interest in educating students about the Ten Commandments that would be less burdensome,” deGravelles wrote.

The anodyne-sounding House Bill 71 directs school officials in every public school from kindergarten to college in the state to display the Ten Commandments on posters no smaller than 11 x 14 inches, with the Commandments “the central focus of the poster” and “in a large, easily readable font.”

The law – which was set to take effect January 1 – mandates the display include explanatory text stating the Ten Commandments were a “prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”

Louisiana’s Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill vowed an immediate appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, one of the nation’s most conservative courts.

The legal challenge was brought by nine families with children in Louisiana public schools who argued that the law “unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance.”

A Jewish family, an atheist family, a Presbyterian family, at least two Unitarian Universalist families, and nonreligious families were party to the suit.

House Bill 71 isn’t the only religious law Louisiana lawmakers are trying to force on the public school system. Louisiana joined a trend gaining traction in other red states with the passage of a law last month that permits public school districts to hire chaplains to serve as mental health professionals and counselors.

“If you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses,” Lousiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) said as he signed House Bill 71 during a June ceremony. As he did, a young girl standing behind him fainted.  

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