A federal judge ruled Tuesday to temporarily block a new Texas law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, marking the second time a court has found Senate Bill 10 to be unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia of the Western District of Texas in San Antonio agreed with a group of multifaith and nonreligious families that the state law violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a religion and ensures the separation of church and state.
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“I am relieved that as a result of today’s ruling, my children, who are among a small number of Jewish children at their schools, will no longer be continually subjected to religious displays,” Lenee Bien-Willner, a plaintiff in the suit, said in a statement. “The government has no business interfering with parental decisions about matters of faith.”
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The new law took effect Sept. 1 and has faced a number of legal challenges. In an August ruling, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas in San Antonio temporarily prohibited 11 school districts, including Plano ISD, from displaying the Ten Commandments, saying the state law interferes with children’s religious education and sends a harmful message.
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The 14 school districts named in Tuesday’s ruling, many of which are in North Texas, must remove by Dec. 1 any Ten Commandments posters that are currently displayed. The North Texas districts include Fort Worth ISD, Arlington ISD, McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, Northwest ISD, Azle ISD, Rockwall ISD, Lovejoy ISD and Mansfield ISD.
Dallas ISD is not named in any of the lawsuits.
Frisco ISD has installed nearly 5,000 posters across 77 campuses, per the initial lawsuit. The district purchased the displays for approximately $1,800. Other campuses, including those in McKinney ISD and Conroe ISD, hung up donated posters.
“It is impractical, if not impossible, to prevent Plaintiffs from being subjected to unwelcome religious displays without enjoining Defendants from enforcing S.B. 10 across their districts,” Garcia wrote in his order.
The families are represented by civil liberties organizations Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the national American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
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The ruling came the same day Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he is suing Round Rock and Leander ISDs for failing to display the posters. Earlier this month, he sued Galveston ISD.
“These rogue ISD officials and board members blatantly disregarded the will of Texas voters who expect the legal and moral heritage of our state to be displayed in accordance with the law,” Paxton said in a Tuesday release. “Round Rock ISD and Leander ISD chose to defy a clear statutory mandate, and this lawsuit makes clear that no district may ignore Texas law without consequence.”
In August, Paxton directed all Texas schools not enjoined by ongoing litigation to display the Ten Commandments in accordance with state law.
Paxton, who previously appealed the August ruling blocking the state law, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he will appeal Tuesday’s decision.
The state attorney general’s office has pushed back on descriptions of the law as “coercion,” saying posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms is a “passive display,” according to court filings.
“S.B. 10 does not require that any future displays be read, discussed or otherwise incorporated into any specific activity within the classroom,” William Farrell, assistant attorney general, wrote in a July motion.
Farrell also pointed out that posters must go up if they are donated, but school districts do not have to purchase them.
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Supporters of the law have said Christianity is an important part of the nation’s founding and history, noting references to God are on U.S. currency as well as in the national and Texas pledges.
Republican state lawmakers have said young people need God and suggested only good could come from exposure to a document that encourages students to respect their parents and not kill, steal or cheat.
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