A federal judge on Tuesday ordered several Texas school districts to remove Ten Commandments displays from classrooms, issuing the ruling in a lawsuit brought by families who argue the postings violate the Constitution’s ban on government-endorsed religion.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia temporarily blocked 14 districts from enforcing Senate Bill 10, the new state law requiring public schools to display the biblical text in classrooms. Garcia wrote that it would be “impractical, if not impossible” to protect students from “unwelcome religious displays” without halting enforcement of the law.
The districts must remove the displays by Dec. 1, and the order will remain in effect while the case continues. This applies only to the districts named in the lawsuit, but the groups behind the case are urging all Texas school districts to avoid displaying the Ten Commandments.
“Today’s ruling is yet another affirmation of what Texans already know: The First Amendment guarantees families and faith communities — not the government — the right to instill religious beliefs in our children,” said Chloe Kempf, attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “Every school district in Texas is now on notice that implementing S.B. 10 violates their students’ constitutional rights.”
The lawsuit was filed in September when some districts began putting up the posters after an August ruling in a different case that called the law “plainly unconstitutional.” That earlier ruling temporarily blocked the law in nearly a dozen other districts across Texas’ largest metro areas. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a vocal supporter of SB 10, has appealed that decision.
Paxton has also backed SB 11, which allows school boards to set aside time for voluntary prayer or the reading of religious texts in classrooms. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Similar lawsuits have challenged nearly identical laws in other states. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law statewide and a federal court has blocked the law in several Arkansas school districts.
Here are the Texas school districts blocked from displaying the Ten Commandments:
Alamo Heights ISDArlington ISDAustin ISDAzle ISDComal ISDConroe ISDCypress-Fairbanks ISDDripping Springs ISDFlour Bluff ISDFort Bend ISDFort Worth ISDFrisco ISDGeorgetown ISDHouston ISDLake Travis ISDLackland ISDLovejoy ISDMansfield ISDMcAllen ISDMcKinney ISDNorth East ISDNorthwest ISDNorthside ISDPlano ISDRockwall ISD