{"id":40308,"date":"2025-11-07T23:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T23:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/40308\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T23:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T23:56:07","slug":"texas-ag-ken-paxton-sues-galveston-isd-for-not-displaying-ten-commandments-in-classrooms-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/40308\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Galveston ISD for not displaying Ten Commandments in classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.<\/p>\n

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Galveston Independent School District on Friday for not following a new state law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms while the legislation is challenged in federal court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

State lawmakers earlier this year passed Senate Bill 10<\/a>, which requires schools to accept posters or framed copies of the Ten Commandments and to display them \u201cin a conspicuous place\u201d in classrooms. Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> signed SB 10 in late June, a day after a federal appeals court in Louisiana found a similar law \u201cplainly unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

After SB 10 took effect on Sept. 1, state Sen. Mayes Middleton<\/a>, R-Galveston, donated posters with the Ten Commandments to the Galveston district, according to the lawsuit<\/a>. But Galveston ISD\u2019s board of trustees voted in late October to delay hanging any donated posters, citing ongoing lawsuits over the constitutionality of the law. Galveston ISD is not part of the lawsuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will closely monitor any possible litigation and consult with our legal counsel before making further decisions,\u201d a Galveston spokesperson said in an email Friday. \u201cIn the meantime, our focus remains on elevating instruction, valuing a respectful culture, and promoting a safe environment for students and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August, a federal judge barred 11 districts from enforcing the law, siding with more than a dozen Texas families who argued that the law undermines the separation of church and state and their right to direct their children\u2019s upbringing. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery called the law unconstitutional, saying it \u201ccrosses the line from exposure to coercion\u201d and that the case will likely reach the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments in both the Texas and Louisiana cases in January.<\/p>\n

Biery\u2019s ruling only applied to the 11 school districts named in the lawsuit. Attorneys representing the families expressed hope that other districts would not implement the law, but they later told the court in a legal filing that many districts are implementing it or have signaled an intent to do so.<\/p>\n

In September, more families filed a new suit against 14 additional school districts to halt them from implementing the law. The judge in that case is expected to announce a decision in the coming days.<\/p>\n

Less than a week after Biery\u2019s ruling, Paxton ordered all districts not involved in litigation to display the Ten Commandments.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica is a Christian nation, and it is imperative that we display the very values and timeless truths that have historically guided the success of our country,\u201d Paxton said in a Friday news release<\/a> announcing the lawsuit against Galveston ISD. \u201cBy refusing to follow the law, Galveston ISD chose to both blatantly ignore the Legislature and also ignore the legal and moral heritage of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no valid legal basis to prevent Texas schools from honoring a foundational framework of our laws, especially under the misconception that a \u2018separation of church and state\u2019 phrase appears in the Constitution,\u201d Paxton added. \u201cIt does not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters of SB 10 have argued that the Ten Commandments are historically significant and teach students about American values. Conservative groups in recent years have pushed to infuse Christian values into public life. Historians and religious scholars have repeatedly<\/a> debunked<\/a> the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation.<\/p>\n

It is unclear whether the lawsuit against Galveston ISD conflicts with state attorneys\u2019 arguments defending SB 10. In the first case challenging the law\u2019s constitutionality, they have said the law does not pose any threat or harm to families in part because it doesn\u2019t specify what would happen to districts that choose not to comply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24746,8882,7216,24688,1967,4275,27,4479,29,28,20157],"class_list":["post-40308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-federal-appeals-court","tag-federal-court","tag-galveston","tag-galveston-isd","tag-ken-paxton","tag-school-districts","tag-texas","tag-texas-attorney-general","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-the-ten-commandments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40308","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=40308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}