Lawyers for the state of Louisiana are asking a federal appeals court in New Orleans to immediately block a judge’s ruling ordering education officials to tell all local districts that a law requiring schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms is unconstitutional.

The judge said the law was "discriminatory and coercive" because it would pressure children in public schools into adopting Louisiana's preferred religious teachings.

The law "is not neutral toward religion," wrote Judge John W. deGravelles, who ruled that the law was "facially unconstitutional."