Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, a US appeals court ruled Tuesday in a victory for conservatives who have long sought to incorporate more religion into classrooms.
The 9-8 decision by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a boost to backers of similar laws in Arkansas and Louisiana.
Opponents have argued that hanging the Ten Commandments in classrooms proselytizes to students and amounts to religious indoctrination by the government.
In a lengthy majority opinion, the conservative-leaning appeals court in New Orleans rejected those arguments in Texas, saying the requirement does not step on the rights of parents or students.
“No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin,” the ruling says.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that challenged the Texas law on behalf of parents said in a statement that they anticipate appealing the ruling to the US Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights,” they said in the statement.
The mandate is one of several fronts in Texas where opponents have fought over religion in classrooms. In 2024, the state approved optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools, and a proposal set for a vote in June would add Bible stories to required reading lists in Texas classrooms.
The decision over the Ten Commandments law reverses a lower federal court ruling that had blocked about a dozen Texas school districts — including some of the state’s largest — from putting up the posters. --->READ MORE HERE
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| John Bazemore/AP |
A federal appeals court has upheld a Texas law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, ruling the mandate a constitutional
A federal appeals court has upheld a Texas law requiring public schools across the state to display the Ten Commandments—a major victory for religious freedom advocates who have long argued the biblical text is intertwined with America’s legal, moral, and historical heritage.
In a 9–8 ruling, the 17-member Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Senate Bill 10, the law passed by Texas' Republican-led legislature, does not violate either the Constitution’s Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause.
"Because Plaintiffs fail to show that S.B. 10 substantially burdens their right to religious exercise, their Free Exercise claims must be dismissed," the court’s majority opinion stated.
Tuesday's ruling reverses a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in 2025, who had previously argued the law failed to demonstrate a historical tradition of public schools posting the Ten Commandments—a standard he claimed was necessary for the bill to withstand judicial precedent.
"This is one of the most important religious liberty victories for Texas in our glorious history," said Jonathan Saenz, president and attorney for Texas Values, which defended the law. "Texas continues to lead the nation in defending both religious liberty and constitutional truth."
"Today’s ruling confirms that our state can honor the moral heritage that undergirds our legal system without violating the First Amendment," Saenz added. "This decision makes clear that acknowledging the historical foundations of our laws is not only permissible—it is fully consistent with the Constitution."
Texas Sen. Phil King, the Senate author of the Texas Ten Commandments Law, said the court's decision means the state isn't required to erase its history.
"The Ten Commandments have been referenced throughout our nation’s civic life because they are part of the historical tradition that influenced American law," he said. "The Fifth Circuit properly applied the Constitution as written and understood, rather than rewriting it to scrub away our heritage."
Under state law, S.B. 10 requires that a "conspicuous" copy of the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom in every public school and open-enrollment charter school in Texas. The court ruled that it was not bound by Stone v. Graham, a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the justices struck down a Kentucky law requiring public schools to post religious texts in classrooms. --->READ MORE HERE
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