Texas appeals court allows Ten Commandments in public classrooms

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A federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled Tuesday that Texas can require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, delivering a win to conservatives who have pushed to put more religious material in public education. The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was 9-8, and it reversed a prior ruling that had blocked enforcement in about a dozen Texas school districts.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that challenged the Texas law said they anticipate appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a statement, the groups said 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,” and they said the decision “tramples those rights.”

In its lengthy majority opinion, the conservative-leaning appeals court rejected arguments from opponents who said the policy would proselytize to students and amount to government-backed religious indoctrination. The majority said the requirement does not step on the rights of parents or students, and it said, “No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”

The ruling marks another step in a multi-state legal and political fight over religion in classrooms. Texas opponents have contested other measures as well, including a 2024 state approval of an optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools and a proposal scheduled for a June vote that would add Bible stories to required reading lists in Texas classrooms.

The appeals court decision also reverses the lower court’s block on enforcement that had prevented districts—some described as among the largest in the state—from putting up the posters. Texas’s law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, took effect in September and is described as the largest attempt in the nation to hang the Ten Commandments in public schools.

At the same time, the law’s implementation has already played out on school campuses before the latest court ruling. The AP report said the mandate prompted school board meetings, guidance for how to respond if students asked questions, and boxes of donated posters being delivered to campuses statewide. The report also said that although the law requires schools to display the posters only if donated, one suburban Dallas district spent nearly $1,800 to print roughly 5,000 posters.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, called the ruling “a major victory for Texas and our moral values,” and he said in remarks, “The Ten Commandments have had a profound impact on our nation, and it’s important that students learn from them every single day.” Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the Texas ruling “adopted our entire legal defense,” describing it as aligning with the earlier legal defense used in Louisiana. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama also signed a similar law earlier this month.

The case reached the court after arguments were heard in January, and it was tied to a similar legal dispute in Louisiana. In February, the 5th Circuit cleared the way for Louisiana to enforce its Ten Commandments classroom-display law, and this Texas decision came after the appeals court considered those related arguments as it weighed the Louisiana case.

A dissenting opinion, joined by four other judges, argued that the approach conflicts with constitutional limits on government-established religion. Judge Stephen A. Higginson wrote in dissent that the framers “intended disestablishment of religion, above all to prevent large religious sects from using political power to impose their religion on others,” and he argued that Texas and Louisiana were seeking to do so by installing what he described as politically chosen scripture in public-school classrooms.

Under Texas’s law, schools must place donated posters “in a conspicuous place” and include text in a size and typeface visible from anywhere in a classroom to someone with “average vision.” The law also sets poster dimensions at 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall (40 centimeters wide and 50 centimeters tall). The AP report said the policy easily passed the Republican-controlled Legislature, and that Republicans including President Donald Trump have backed the Ten Commandments’ display in public classrooms.