A federal judge has blocked the latest effort to enforce a Texas law requiring posters of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia ordered several school districts to remove the displays by December 1, ruling that the mandate violates students’ First Amendment rights.
The law, known as Senate Bill 10, was passed by the Texas Legislature in May and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 21. It was scheduled to take effect in September, but a previous federal injunction halted enforcement in 11 districts across the state.
Although the orders apply only to the districts named in two ongoing lawsuits, civil liberties organizations are urging all Texas school districts to refrain from implementing the law.
“While today’s preliminary injunction directly applies to the defendant school districts named in the Cribbs Ringer lawsuit, the organizations behind the lawsuit are urging all Texas school districts not to implement S.B. 10,” ACLU Texas said in a statement. “All school districts, even those that are not parties in either ongoing lawsuit, have an independent obligation to respect students’ and families’ rights under the U.S. Constitution, which supersedes state law.”
Districts affected by the August and November rulings include several in the Austin, San Antonio, Dallas–Fort Worth and Houston metro areas, as well as McAllen ISD in the Rio Grande Valley.
“I am relieved that, as a result of today’s ruling, my children, who are among a small number of Jewish children at their school, will no longer be continually subjected to religious displays,” said Lenee Bien-Willner, a plaintiff in the Cribbs Ringer case. “The government has no business interfering with parental decisions about matters of faith.”
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.