A monument at the Texas Capitol complex displays the Ten Commandments. Credit: Shutterstock / Eddie J. Rodriguez
The ACLU of Texas and a group of religious freedom organizations have filed yet another lawsuit to block Texas’ new state law mandating that public school classrooms display the Ten Commandments.
The suit, filed Monday in federal district court in San Antonio, seeks to stop 14 Texas school districts, including Comal ISD, from implementing the law, which critics have accused of blatantly violating constitutional protections for freedom of religion.
The legal challenge comes after a San Antonio federal judge in August temporarily blocked the law, Senate Bill 10, from taking effect in 11 school districts around the state. That ruling came in response a suit filed by 16 families of various religious and nonreligious backgrounds whose children attended campuses in those districts.
Attorneys for the ACLU and other organizations representing the plaintiffs in that suit said they hoped the ruling declaring SB 10 unconstitutional would persuade other districts to not move forward with the law’s implementation.
However, they now say it’s apparent that more Texas families must challenge the state’s mandate to make that point. Many districts are moving ahead in displaying the 10 Commandments despite court’s block, the new suit charges.
“Texas families from religious and nonreligious backgrounds are once again coming together to challenge this blatantly unconstitutional law,” ACLU of Texas Staff Attorney Chloe Kempf said in an emailed statement. “This lawsuit is a continuation of our work to defend the First Amendment and ensure that government officials stay out of personal family decisions. All students — regardless of their race or religious background — should feel accepted and free to be themselves in Texas public schools.”
Indeed, in his August ruling against the Republican-backed law, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said the statute favors Christianity over other faiths and would make non-Christian students feel like outsiders in their own communities.
“By design and on its face, the statute mandates the display of expressly religious scripture in every public school classroom,” Biery wrote. “The Act also requires that a Judeo-Christian version of that scripture be used, that is exclusionary to all other faiths.”
A separate lawsuit filed in federal court in Dallas also seeks to shut down the implementations of SB 10 on constitutional grounds.
Texas has appealed Biery’s ruling to the same appeals court that early this summer unanimously blocked a Louisiana law requiring schools to the display of the Ten Commandments.
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This article appears in sep 18 – Oct 1.