The ACLU and allied groups are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse federal appeals court rulings that upheld Texas’ law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms, pushing a constitutional fight that could affect similar laws nationwide.
More than two dozen Texas families filed a joint petition Monday seeking review of two cases challenging Senate Bill 10: Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District and Cribbs Ringer v. Comal Independent School District. The petition asks the Supreme Court to summarily reverse the rulings, vacate and remand them, or take up the constitutional questions itself.
The full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in Nathan in a 9-8 decision on April 21. The appeals court then relied on that ruling to reverse a preliminary injunction in Cribbs Ringer on May 29.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-Texas), whose office defended the law, praised the April ruling as “a major victory for Texas and our moral values.” Paxton said the Ten Commandments have had a profound impact on the nation and argued that students should learn from them.
What Texas Law Requires
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) signed Senate Bill 10 on June 20, 2025, and the law took effect September 1. It requires every public elementary and secondary school to display a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments in a conspicuous place in each classroom.
The display must measure at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall, contain only the text specified by the Legislature, and use lettering readable by a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.
Schools must accept privately donated displays that meet the statutory requirements. Districts may also use district funds to buy compliant copies, but the law does not require them to make such purchases. SB 10 also directs the attorney general to defend schools against claims arising from compliance with the law and makes the state responsible for resulting expenses, costs, judgments or settlements.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Paxton issued a legal advisory last October telling Texas public schools to comply with SB 10 and pledging that his office would defend districts facing legal challenges over the displays.
Why the 5th Circuit upheld SB 10
The constitutional dispute centers on how courts should treat a 1980 Supreme Court decision after the high court later changed its Establishment Clause framework.
In Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms. That decision relied on the legal framework associated with Lemon v. Kurtzman.
The Supreme Court abandoned that approach in its 2022 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, directing courts to interpret the Establishment Clause by reference to historical practices and understandings.
Applying that standard, the 5th Circuit majority concluded that SB 10 does not share the features of a government establishment of religion at the nation’s founding. The majority emphasized that the law does not require students to pray, recite the Ten Commandments, profess belief in them, or affirm their religious origin.
The court also rejected the families’ Free Exercise Clause claims, finding that the classroom displays did not substantially burden their religious exercise. The majority reversed the district court, vacated its preliminary injunction and ordered dismissal of the plaintiffs’ Establishment Clause and Free Exercise claims.
Why the Challengers want Supreme Court Review
The families, who come from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Baha’i, Unitarian Universalist and nonreligious backgrounds and attend 22 Texas school districts, argue that the 5th Circuit lacked authority to treat Stone as effectively displaced when the Supreme Court has never expressly overruled it.
Their petition asks whether the Establishment Clause permits a state to mandate a permanent, government-selected Ten Commandments display in every public-school classroom and whether such displays burden parents’ and children’s religious freedom.
The ACLU and its allies also argue that the required displays interfere with parents’ ability to direct their children’s religious upbringing. “In our country, no legislature can force its preferred scripture on public school students and families,” ACLU National Legal Director Cecillia Wang said in the group’s announcement Monday.
Fight Could Reach Beyond Texas
The petition says legislatures in two dozen states have enacted or considered measures involving Ten Commandments displays in public schools during the past two years, giving the Texas dispute potential consequences beyond the state.
The Supreme Court has not decided whether it will hear the cases. For now, the 5th Circuit rulings leave SB 10 in force in Texas while the challengers seek review from the nation’s highest court.
Provided by Dallas Express
