The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and allied groups filed suit in a San Antonio federal court July 2 declaring the law violates the religious rights of students and parents and \u201cis plainly unconstitutional.\u201d It also seeks a preliminary injunction to keep the law from going into effect pending the resolution of the suit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lawsuit is no surprise,\u201d King told the Fort Worth Report, predicting victory in the legal case. \u201cThat\u2019s what the left does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tommy Buser-Clancy, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said the plaintiffs will seek to prove that \u201cimposing the Ten Commandments in every single classroom\u201d will pressure students to follow predominantly Protestant religious dictates, regardless of their own beliefs.<\/p>\n
Plaintiffs included 16 families of different religious and nonreligious views, including Jewish, Christian, Hindu and Unitarian Universalists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis simply cannot be reconciled with the fundamental religious-freedom principles that animated the founding of our nation,\u201d the 64-page petition said in reference to SB 10\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n
A Dallas activist group<\/a>, the Next Generation Action Network Legal Advocacy Fund, also filed suit against the state and some school districts in Dallas County to block the rollout of the law.<\/p>\n Texas\u2019 proposed Ten Commandments requirement provoked impassioned legislative testimony on both sides of the issue as King guided his bill through the Senate and Rep. Candy Noble, R-Lucas, advanced the measure in the House, both garnering strong Republican support.<\/p>\n Tarrant County lawmakers were largely divided along party lines, with Tarrant\u2019s seven House Republicans supporting the bill while the four Democrats opposed.\u00a0<\/p>\n All five senators representing Tarrant County \u2014 including Sen. Royce West of Dallas \u2014 voted in favor of the bill. West was the only Senate Democrat who voted for SB 10.<\/p>\n King, a former Fort Worth policeman who has been in the Legislature since 1999, said the Ten Commandments have been part of his life since childhood but were banned from classrooms by the Supreme Court\u2019s 1980 ruling in Stone v. Graham<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ACLU of Texas says \u201cit has been well-settled\u201d for nearly a half-century that public schools are forbidden from posting the Ten Commandments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019ll win that battle\u2019<\/p>\n Others, including King, say a more recent standard allows the display. They point to a Supreme Court ruling in 2022<\/a> which upheld the right of Washington State high school coach Joseph Kennedy to engage in a religious observance by praying in the middle of the field following a football game.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very confident, if there is a lawsuit on the Texas Ten Commandments, that the Supreme Court will uphold our statute,\u201d said King, whose eight-county Senate district includes part of Tarrant County.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so popular,\u201d he said, describing the public\u2019s reaction to SB 10. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many people I\u2019ve run into that bring it up. I think the general public is very excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n King, an evangelical Christian, hears that much of the public believes in the importance of displaying the Ten Commandments in every K-12 classroom so students can see its teachings, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then also, I think people want God recognized in their classrooms. They don\u2019t want him banned from the classrooms,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we were kids, the Ten Commandments were in public buildings,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was in schools. Everybody just recognized that was just a wonderful statement of morality. It was something that we were taught from day one, just like the Golden Rule.\u201d<\/p>\n As attorney general in 2005, Abbott successfully argued the U.S. Supreme Court to continue allowing Texas to keep a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol.\u00a0<\/p>\n The three-term governor has also predicted that Texas will prevail in a suit against SB 10.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll win that battle,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n SB 10 requires the commandments to be a minimum of 16 by 20 inches in size and located in a conspicuous place in each classroom. The commandments must also be printed in a size and typeface that is \u201clegible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n What must be displayed in public classrooms?<\/p>\n Senate Bill 10 requires all Texas public school classrooms to feature a sign with the Ten Commandments. Here\u2019s what the law<\/a> requires to be displayed:<\/p>\n The Ten Commandments<\/p>\n I AM the LORD thy God.<\/p>\n Thou shalt have no other gods before me.<\/p>\n Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.<\/p>\n Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.<\/p>\n Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.<\/p>\n Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.<\/p>\n Thou shalt not kill.<\/p>\n Thou shalt not commit adultery.<\/p>\n Thou shalt not steal.<\/p>\n Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.<\/p>\n Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor\u2019s house.<\/p>\n Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor\u2019s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u2018An array of faiths\u2019<\/p>\n The ACLU of Texas suit noted that, of the 5.5 million students enrolled in public schools, children and their families \u201cadhere to an array of faiths, and many do not practice any religion at all\u201d but because of Senate Bill 10, \u201call of these students\u201d will be exposed to a \u201cstate-approved, Protestant version of the Ten Commandments\u201d and \u201cwill be forcibly subjected to scriptural dictates, day in and day out.\u201d<\/p>\n The Texas law, says the suit, comes in contrast to \u201ca long line of Supreme Court jurisprudence that prohibits public schools from imposing religious doctrine and practice on students.\u201d<\/p>\n Joining the ACLU of Texas in bringing the suit were the national American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Plaintiffs include the families of children in nearly a dozen school districts in Central Texas, Houston and Plano, who were named as defendants.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several of the plaintiffs were quoted in the petition.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a rabbi and public school parent, I am deeply concerned that SB 10 will impose another faith\u2019s scripture on students for nearly every hour of the school day,\u201d said Rabbi Mara Nathan, the mother of a student at Alamo Heights ISD near San Antonio.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile our Jewish faith treats the Ten Commandments as sacred,\u201d she added, \u201cthe version mandated under this law does not match the text followed by our family, and the school displays will conflict with the religious beliefs and values we seek to instill in our own child.\u201d<\/p>\n Other states enact similar law<\/p>\n Texas is one of several states that began embracing the Ten Commandments as a result of shifting federal court mandates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawmakers in South Carolina<\/a>, Oklahoma<\/a> and other states have also introduced Ten Commandments requirements.<\/p>\n Louisiana was ahead of the Lone Star State when it enacted a law<\/a> requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public classrooms. A federal appeals court recently blocked the law<\/a>, upholding a lower court ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n The case now moves to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n Dave Montgomery is an Austin-based freelance reporter for the Fort Worth Report.<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report\u2019s Texas legislative coverage is supported by Kelly Hart<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1695.jpg\")
Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, upper left, and Sen. Phil King, upper right, clap as Gov. Greg Abbott signs the first major law of the 2025 Legislature, establishing a DOGE agency in Texas on April 23, 2025. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, bottom right, also attended the signing. (David Montgomery | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
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