A federal judge ordered some public school districts in Texas on Tuesday to remove Ten Commandment displays from their classroom walls by next month, a victory for families who had argued that the posters infringed on their religious freedom.
The ruling from Judge Orlando L. Garcia, of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, comes after Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June a law requiring school districts to display the Ten Commandments in a “conspicuous location” in each classroom. The ruling applies to 14 public school districts, including ones in Fort Worth, Arlington and Conroe.
In his ruling, Judge Garcia wrote that “it is impracticable, if not impossible, to prevent plaintiffs from being subjected to unwelcome religious displays” without stopping school districts from enforcing that law.
The decision comes amid an ongoing battle over whether states can legally compel school districts to display the Ten Commandments. In June, a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said a similar law in Louisiana requiring the postings was “plainly unconstitutional.” The State of Louisiana asked the full appeals court to rehear the case, and a hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20. The court will also hear a challenge to Texas’ law in that hearing.
The Fort Worth Independent School District and Conroe Independent School District said in separate statements on Tuesday that they would comply with Judge Garcia’s order. Other districts could not immediately be reached for comment.
Texas’ law states that school districts must accept donations of the posters, but are not required to purchase them with district funds. Proponents of the law argue that the Ten Commandments are important to understanding U.S. history, while critics say the law is a clear violation of the separation of church and state.
“America 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,” Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, said in a statement this month. Mr. Paxton has sued at least three districts that he says have refused to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
In August, a separate federal judge in the Western District of Texas temporarily halted the law, while its constitutionality was being litigated. But that decision applied to 11 school districts, and some other districts proceeded to hang the posters that were donated, sometimes by religious organizations.
“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 case, said in a statement shared by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which represented the plaintiffs. “The government has no business interfering with parental decisions about matters of faith.”
Pooja Salhotra covers breaking news across the United States.
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