BATON ROUGE, LA. — A new Louisiana requirement ca Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public classroom until Jan. 1 was temporarily blocked Tuesday by a federal judge who said the law was “unconstitutional on its face.”

U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles in Baton Rouge said the law has an “obviously religious” purpose and rejected claims by state officials that the government can mandate the display of the Ten Commandments because they have historical significance to the foundation of American law . His opinion noted that other fundamental documents, including the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, should not be posted.

“We strongly disagree with the court’s decision and will immediately appeal,” the Louisiana attorney said. Gen. Elizabeth Murrill said in an emailed statement. Murrill, a Republican, supported the law, as did Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.

By granting a preliminary injunction, DeGravelles said opponents of the law will win the ongoing lawsuit against the law. The lawsuit claims the law violates First Amendment provisions that prohibit the government from establishing a religion or restricting the free exercise of religion. They had argued that a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments would alienate students, especially non-Christians.

DeGravelles said the law amounts to unconstitutional religious government coercion of students: “As the plaintiffs point out, by law parents must send their minor children to school and ensure attendance during regular school hours at least 177 days a year “.

Supporters argue that the measure is not just religious, but has historical significance for the foundation of American law.

The plaintiffs in the case were a group of parents of Louisiana public school children.

The new law in Louisiana, a reliably Republican state that is enrolled in the Bible Belt, was passed by the GOP-dominated state Legislature earlier this year.

The legislation, which was championed by Republicans including President-elect Donald Trump, is one of the latest efforts by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms — including legislation in Florida that allows school districts to have volunteer chaplains to counsel students, and Oklahoma’s top education official to publicly order schools to include the Bible in lessons.

In recent years, similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah. However, with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, none have come into effect.

In 1980, the US Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment, which says Congress may “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The high court found that the law did not have a secular purpose but rather served a purely religious purpose.

Louisiana law, which applies to all K-12 public schools and state-funded university classrooms, requires that the Ten Commandments be displayed on a poster or framed document at least 11 inches by 14 inches, where the text is the point central and “printed in a large, easy-to-read font.”

Each poster must be paired with a four-paragraph “context statement” that describes how the Ten Commandments “have been a prominent part of American public education for nearly three centuries.”

Tens of thousands of posters would probably be needed to meet the new law. Supporters argue that schools are not required to spend public money on the posters and instead can be bought using donations or that groups and organizations will donate the actual posters.

Cline and McGill write for the Associated Press. McGill reported from New Orleans.