The federal appeals court declined on Wednesday to lift the hold on Louisiana’s law that requires all public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

The U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit has ruled that the state cannot make the posting of biblical directives compulsory while it appeals a decision of a lower court which called the law “unconstitutional at its core.”

Louisiana was the first state to mandate that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public K-12 schools using a “large, easily-readable font”. The posters also included a brief explanation of why the religious text has relevance to American history.

In court, a group of parents from different religious backgrounds argued that the law violated their First Amendment rights to decide on their children’s religion. They have received support from several civil rights organizations.

U.S. district judge John deGravelles stated in a 177 page decision issued last week that “the law is not neutral towards religion.” He rejected the claims of the state that it can mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments due to their historical significance for the foundations of U.S. Law.

The law, because it is not neutral and does not meet the strict scrutiny test, fails to pass the analysis. Even if the AG defendants had shown a compelling reason (e.g. for history or education), there are many ways they could promote an alleged need to educate students about the Ten Commandments, which would be less burdensome than H.B. DeGravelles wrote about the law and decided that its implementation would “irreparably harm” the parents.

The state wanted the Ten Commandments to be posted in all public schools before Jan. 1.

The law has been supported by National Republicans including the President-elect Trump. He said on social media, that the posting of the Ten Commandments “in public schools, private school and many other places,” could be “the first major step in revival of religion in our country, which is desperately required.”