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A copy of the Ten Commandments is displayed in a classroom at Bagdad Elementary School in Leander on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Texas can enforce a law requiring the Ten Commandments be posted in public schools, overturning a decision made last year by a San Antonio federal judge.<\/p>\n
Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
After a federal appeals court ruling Tuesday, San Antonio\u00a0public school districts said\u00a0they will follow a law requiring them to post copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.<\/p>\n
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In a split decision, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the new Texas law<\/a> did not violate the Establishment or Free Exercise clauses of the U.S. Constitution, reversing a previous San Antonio-based federal judge\u2019s decision. Senate Bill 10<\/a>, passed by lawmakers in 2025, requires Texas public schools to display a donated poster of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Last August, U.S. District Judge Fred\u00a0Biery ruled the law was unconstitutional<\/a> after a group of\u00a0multifaith and nonreligious parents sued their children\u2019s school districts to stop them from displaying the Ten Commandments. San Antonio-area\u00a0school districts named in the lawsuit included Alamo Heights, North East, Lackland and Northside ISDs. The parents are expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ‘coercion’ characteristic of religious establishments was government pressure to engage in religious worship. That\u2019s why establishments prescribed liturgies and punished those who skipped them. S.B. 10 is far from that,\u201d judges wrote in the Tuesday appeals court ruling<\/a>. \u201cIt puts a poster on a classroom wall. Yes, Plaintiffs have sincere religious disagreements with its content. But that does not transform the poster into a summons to prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked how they would move forward after Tuesday\u2019s ruling, representatives from the four area districts named in the lawsuit said they will comply with\u00a0state law and regulations.<\/p>\n Lackland ISD\u00a0Superintendent Burnie Roper said the district got pulled into the legal battle due to the parents filing the suit and will adhere to\u00a0SB 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThe bottom line is we\u2019re going to follow the law. We don\u2019t have a dog in this fight,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they (the Commandments posters) are donated, then we will put them up.\u201d<\/p>\n After Biery\u2019s ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the case to the Fifth Circuit.\u00a0All 17 justices on the Fifth Circuit considered the appeal. Nine ruled to overturn the lower court, and one justice agreed with most aspects of that ruling. Seven justices dissented.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Ten Commandments Monument at the Capitol in Austin, Wednesday, June 25, 2025.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Dissenting circuit judge Stephen A. Higginson said the majority\u2019s ruling defied the First Amendment, ignored harms to students and usurped parents’ rights to determine the religious beliefs they wish for their children.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Judge Andrew S.\u00a0Oldham, who agreed with the majority, said plaintiffs do not have the basis to invoke federal judicial power, because they are offended by \u201ca holy text that is a cornerstone of Western civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday,\u00a0Paxton said the reversal\u00a0was a major victory for Texas and moral values.<\/p>\n \u201cMy office was proud to defend\u00a0SB 10 and successfully ensure that the Ten Commandments will be displayed in classrooms across Texas,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cThe Ten Commandments have had a profound impact on our nation, and it\u2019s important that students learn from them every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Heather Weaver, a senior staff attorney for ACLU, which\u00a0who represented the parents and faith leaders, shared a statement announcing the organization expects to ask the Supreme Court to reverse this decision.<\/p>\n \u201cThe First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights,\u201d the ACLU said in the Tuesday statement.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A copy of the Ten Commandments is displayed in a classroom at Bagdad Elementary School in Leander on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-261633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-san-antonio","9":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","10":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n