Judge Blocks Ten Commandments In 14 Texas School Districts
A federal judge ordered 14 Texas school districts to remove Ten Commandments displays from classrooms by Dec. 1, ruling unconstitutional a new state law that has required the displays since September.
The Nov. 18th ruling comes as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues lawsuits to force three other school districts to display the commandments, and as similar legal battles continue in Arkansas and Louisiana.
The cases are part of a widening battle over the extent of states’ rights to integrate Scripture into the public school environment and curriculum.
Most recently, on Nov. 19, the Ohio House of Representatives passed bill 486, known as the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act, allowing public school teachers to include in American history classes “instruction on the influence of Judeo-Christian values on history and culture.” The bill heads to the Ohio Senate.
In the Texas court ruling, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled in favor of a religiously diverse group of parents of public school students who sought a preliminary injunction blocking the displays that are required in schools statewide through the passage of Texas Senate Bill 10 (S.B. 10). Fourteen school districts were among the defendants in the case.
“Because displaying the Ten Commandments on the wall of a public-school classroom as set forth in S.B. 10 violates the Establishment Clause (of the U.S. Constitution), Plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim,” Garcia wrote in his decision. He referenced among other precedents the 1980 ruling in Stone v. Graham, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a Kentucky law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments violated the Establishment Clause.
“The present case is factually indistinguishable from Stone,” Garcia wrote. “The state statutes are remarkably similar. If anything, S.B. 10 mandates more intrusive displays of the Ten Commandments than those at issue in Stone.”
The ruling impacts public schools in several independent school districts, including the, Arlington, Azle, Comal, Conroe, Fort Worth, Flour Bluff, Frisco, Georgetown, Lovejoy, Mansfield, McAllen, McKinney, Northwest and Rockwall districts. Eleven additional districts were prohibited from displaying the Ten Commandments in an August court ruling impacting the Alamo Heights, Austin, Cypress Fairbanks, Dripping Springs, Fort Bend, Houston, Lackland, Lake Travis, North East, Northside and Plano districts.
Paxton is appealing the rulings. In August, he ordered all districts “not enjoined by ongoing litigation” to comply with the state law to display the Ten Commandments, and has filed lawsuits against at least three school districts that have refused to do so, namely the Galveston, Leander and Round Rock districts.
“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 press 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 Louisiana, Attorney General Liz Murrill is appealing a July court ruling that declared unconstitutional Louisiana’s law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments. A hearing in that case is set for January 2026.
In Arkansas, federal judges have blocked at least six of the state’s 237 school districts from complying with an Arkansas law to display the commandments.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders continues to support the state law.
“In Arkansas, we do in fact believe that murder is wrong and stealing is bad,” she said after a federal ruling blocking the displays in October. “It is entirely appropriate to display the Ten Commandments – the basis of all Western law and morality – as a reminder to students, state employees, and every Arkansan who enters a government building.”
As battles over states’ rights to make decisions regarding religious displays and education in public schools brew, Oklahoma schools superintendent Lindel Fields rescinded an order by the previous superintendent that required public schools statewide to display and teach the Bible.
In October, Lindel said he has “no plans to distribute Bibles or a biblical character education curriculum in classrooms.” A group of 32 Oklahomans challenged in court the edict, issued under former superintendent Ryan Walters.
Texas is still upholding its 2024 law that incentivizes biblical instruction in grades K-5. The Bluebonnet Learning curriculum includes lessons about various biblical stories, including lessons about Moses, the Good Samaritan, the Golden Rule and other narratives.
This article has been republished courtesy of Baptist Press.
Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.