Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Families and civil rights groups in Louisiana are taking legal action over a new law that requires public schools and universities in the state to display the Ten Commandments.

Their new lawsuit, filed Monday in the US district court in Baton Rouge, takes on HB71, which was signed into law by Republican Governor Jeff Landry last week.

The measure requires all public, state-funded classrooms to display the Bible's Ten Commandments written in "large, easily readable font" and displayed in a frame that is at least 11 inches by 14 inches.

The complaint argues that the law "sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments do not belong to their own school community."

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Opponents say the law violates the First Amendment to the Constitution and the separation of church and state.

"The state’s main interest in passing H.B. 71 was to impose religious beliefs on public-school children, regardless of the harm to students and families," the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs include families of Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, and non-religious backgrounds.

Rev. Jeff Simms, a Presbyterian pastor and father of three, said in a press release: "This law sends a contrary message of religious intolerance that one denomination or faith system is officially preferable to others, and that those who don't adhere to it are lesser in worth and status. As a pastor and father, I cannot, in good conscience, sit by silently while our political representatives usurp God's authority for themselves and trample our fundamental religious-freedom rights."

Plaintiff Joshua Harlands added: "As a parent, an American, and a Jew, I am appalled that state lawmakers are forcing public schools to post a specific version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. These displays distort the Jewish significance of the Ten Commandments and send the troubling message to students that one set of religious laws is favored over all others."

The legal move, which pits the families and civil rights groups against Christian nationalists and Louisiana's majority-Republican government, has the potential to go all the way to the Supreme Court.