A federal judge in Texas temporarily halted on Wednesday a state law that would have required the Ten Commandments to be visibly displayed in every public school classroom by Sept. 1.
The law, passed earlier this year by the Republican-controlled Legislature, mirrors one in Louisiana that was declared “plainly unconstitutional” in June by a panel of judges from the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. A federal judge also blocked a nearly identical measure in Arkansas this month.
In Texas, 16 families from different faith backgrounds brought the legal challenge. They argued that the law would pressure students to adopt a state-favored religious scripture and that it amounted to a clear violation of the separation of church and state.
The version of the Ten Commandments that the law would have required was drawn from the King James Bible, the families said, and it would not have reflected other religious groups’ interpretations of the Ten Commandments.
Some parents also argued that portions of the commandments are inappropriate for young children, including the lines “thou shalt not commit adultery” and “though shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”
“Even though the Ten Commandments would not be affirmatively taught, the captive audience of students likely would have questions,” Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas wrote in his decision. “Teenage boys, being the curious hormonally driven creatures they are, might ask: ‘Mrs. Walker, I know about lying and I love my parents, but how do I do adultery?’”
Ken Paxton, the state attorney general, whose office represented most of the school districts that were sued, called the Ten Commandments a “cornerstone of our moral and legal heritage” and vowed to appeal the decision.
The Texas law requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in a “conspicuous” location in each classroom on a typeface visible from anywhere in the classroom. The law mandated that a poster of the commandments be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall and only include the text of the Ten Commandments. Under the law, school districts would be required to accept donations of Ten Commandments posters, and they would be allowed to use district funds to purchase posters.
“The public school is a secular space, and it feels like our freedoms are being encroached upon when students are going to walk into a classroom and immediately be presented with religious doctrine,” said Rabbi Mara Nathan, one of the plaintiffs. Rabbi Nathan, who lives in San Antonio, said the law would also make her child, and other children of different religious backgrounds, feel unwelcome.
The Supreme Court struck down a similar Kentucky law in 1980 on First Amendment grounds. But supporters of the Texas law have pointed to more recent cases that have expanded the role of religion in public life, such as one from 2022 in which the Supreme Court ruled that a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray on the field after a team’s game.
Proponents also argue that the Ten Commandments are a historical document that laid the foundation for the modern legal system. And they say that students would not be forced to recite the commandments or change their beliefs simply because they are displayed in school.
“The Constitution does not guarantee citizens a right to entirely avoid ideas with which they disagree,” William Farrell, a lawyer representing the school districts, said during a hearing on the Texas case. The displays, he said, “will hang on the wall, and students aren’t required to do anything with them.”
Judge Biery’s ruling applies only to the 11 school districts named in the lawsuit, including the Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest, and the Austin and Plano school districts.
Pooja Salhotra covers breaking news across the United States.
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