A panel of three federal appellate judges has ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in each of the state’s public school classrooms is unconstitutional.

The ruling on Friday marked a major win for civil liberties groups who say the mandate violates the separation of church and state, and that the poster-sized displays would isolate students — especially those who are not Christian.

The mandate has been touted by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, and marks one of the latest pushes by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms. Backers of the law argue the Ten Commandments belong in classrooms because they are historical and part of the foundation of U.S. law.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ order stems from a lawsuit filed last year by parents of Louisiana school children from various religious backgrounds, who said the law violates First Amendment language guaranteeing religious liberty and forbidding government establishment of religion.

The mandate was signed into law last June by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.

The court’s ruling backs an order issued last fall by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, who declared the mandate unconstitutional and ordered state education officials not to take steps to enforce it and to notify all local school boards in the state of his decision.

Charges: Man tried to kidnap Memphis mayor

A man has been charged with an attempted kidnapping of the mayor of Memphis, Tenn., after he went to the mayor’s house in a gated community and was later arrested with a Taser, gloves, rope and duct tape in his vehicle, according to police.

Memphis police on Wednesday announced that Trenton Abston, 25, is facing charges of attempted kidnapping, stalking and aggravated criminal trespass. Mayor Paul Young, a Black Democrat, was at home with his wife and children when Abston knocked on the door Sunday night, according to an arrest affidavit. Young said could see from his doorbell camera that the man was wearing gloves and had a lumpy bulge in his hoodie pocket.

When no one answered, the man fled, but his face was captured on camera, the affidavit says.

The attempt happened just one day after the killing a prominent Minnesota Democratic lawmaker. The suspect charged is accused of impersonating a police officer and gunning down former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home outside Minneapolis.

Man arrested for threatening Ohio congressman

An Ohio man was arrested Thursday on allegations that he threatened and spewed antisemitic epithets at Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller while the two were traveling on an interstate highway near Cleveland.

Police in Rocky River said Feras S. Hamdan, 36, of Westlake, voluntarily turned himself in with counsel present and is awaiting an appearance in municipal court. A message was left with his lawyer seeking comment.

Miller, who is Jewish, called 911 while driving on Interstate 90 on his way to work Thursday. He reported that another driver was cutting him off, making profane hand gestures, showing a Palestinian flag and shouting death threats targeted at him and his 1-year-old daughter.

After an interview with police, Miller filed a complaint against Hamdan alleging aggravated menacing and sought a criminal protective order. Local police continue to investigate with assistance from the U.S. Capitol Police, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s office and the Rocky River prosecutor.

Mexicans clean up from Hurricane Erick

Authorities in southern Mexico were still assessing damage and watching rising rivers Friday as rain from the remnants of Hurricane Erick doused the region.

Torrential rains over steep coastal mountains and the landslides and flooding they could generate became the ongoing concern for officials after Erick dissipated following a landfall early Thursday on a sparsely populated stretch of coast.

The storm’s death toll remained at one Friday, a 1-year-old boy who drowned in a swollen river, President Claudia Sheinbaum said. She also said she planned to visit the affected region Friday.

Power had been restored to about half the 277,000 customers who lost it and soldiers, marines and National Guard were helping to remove debris and reopen roads in Guerrero and Oaxaca state where Erick passed.

Erick came ashore down southern Mexico’s Pacific coast in the morning as a Category 3 major hurricane, but it landed between the resort cities of Acapulco and Puerto Escondido. It dissipated Thursday night over the mountains in Michoacan state.

Authorities reported landslides, blocked highways, downed power lines and some flooding as coastal residents, above all in Acapulco, took the storm seriously with memories of the devastating Hurricane Otis in 2023 still fresh in their minds.

Court allow e-cig makers to sue FDA

The Supreme Court sided with e-cigarette companies on Friday in a ruling making it easier to sue over Food and Drug Administration decisions blocking their products from the multibillion-dollar vaping market.

The 7-2 opinion comes as companies push back against a yearslong federal regulatory crackdown on electronic cigarettes. It’s expected to give the companies more control over which judges hear lawsuits filed against the agency.

The justices went the other way on vaping in an April decision, siding with the FDA in a ruling upholding a sweeping block on most sweet-flavored vapes instituted after a spike in youth vaping.

The current case was filed by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., which had sold popular berry and menthol-flavored vaping products before the agency started regulating the market under the Tobacco Control Act in 2016.

The agency refused to authorize the company’s Vuse Alto products, an order that “sounded the death knell for a significant portion of the e-cigarette market,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion.

Court lets oil companies challenge emissions program

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that fuel producers may challenge an unusual federal program that lets California set its own limits on vehicle tailpipe emissions to combat climate change.

The question for the justices was whether the challengers had suffered the sort of injuries that gave them standing to sue. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in December, it said it would not address whether the Environmental Protection Agency program granting California a waiver to set its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions was lawful.

A federal law authorizes the EPA to grant California a waiver even though other states and localities are not free to set their own limits. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in an unsigned opinion last year, rejected the fuel producers’ lawsuit, ruling that the challengers lacked standing. The appeals court reasoned that the challengers would not be directly harmed by the waiver, since its immediate impacts were only on vehicle manufacturers.

— From news services