Texans will sue once Gov. Greg Abbott signs a bill requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms, three national civil liberties groups said May 29.
The announcement came a day after state senators voted to approve an amended version of Senate Bill 10 passed by the House 82-46 a few days earlier.
The Senate passed the bill in March but had to vote again after the House added a provision requiring the state, instead of school districts, to pay for legal challenges.
Abbott urged legislatures to pass the GOP-drafted measure: “Let’s get this bill to my desk. I’ll make it law.”
When he does, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation said they will jointly sue to overturn the law slated to go into effect in the 2025-2026 school year.
The bill requires Ten Commandments displays of no less than 16-by-20 inches with a “typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom in which the poster or framed copy is displayed.” The law also mandates use of a particular Protestant version of the Decalogue in the displays.
We will be working with Texas public school families to prepare a lawsuit to stop this violation of students’ and parents’ First Amendment rights.”
“SB-10 is blatantly unconstitutional. We will be working with Texas public school families to prepare a lawsuit to stop this violation of students’ and parents’ First Amendment rights,” the legal groups said.
The decision on what to believe or not to believe, and how to instruct children in matters of faith, should be left to families and their congregations, the groups said. “Government officials have no business intruding on these deeply personal religious matters. SB-10 will subject students to state-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments for nearly every hour of their public education. It is religiously coercive and interferes with families’ right to direct children’s religious education.”
There is plenty of legal precedent to back up a case against SB-10, the groups added.
A 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Stone v. Graham struck down a Kentucky law mandating classroom Ten Commandment displays even if the materials are purchased with private donations.
A recent Louisiana law was found “facially unconstitutional and unconstitutional in all applications” in a 2024 ruling by U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles in Baton Rouge. That decision found Louisiana House Bill 71 to be “discriminatory” by preferencing one narrow expression of faith over all others, and “coercive” because public school children would be forced to see the displays during the school day.
The judge also rejected Louisiana’s request to implement the law while Roake v. Brumley is taken up by the U.S. Fifth District Court of Appeal in New Orleans, where it remains. The law was set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2025.
That suit also is being litigated by ACLU, Americans United and Freedom from Religion Foundation on behalf of a group of parents and public school students. Texans would suffer the same harms if SB-10 is ever enacted, they said. “Texas communities and public schools are religiously diverse. Many public school families do not practice any religion at all, while many others practice religions that do not consider the Ten Commandments to be part of their faith traditions.”
The groups did not identify the court where the lawsuit will be filed, adding the search is under way for additional plaintiffs.
“There are a lot of eager Texans ready and willing to challenge the government for trying to dictate one particular religion to their children,” said Andrew Seidel, vice president of strategic communications with Americans United.
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