ACLU and Texas parents ask U.S. Supreme Court to review Ten Commandments classroom law

The U.S. Supreme Court faces a pivotal decision on whether Texas public schools can constitutionally display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

A major separation-of-church-and-state case lands at the Supreme Court.

Brittany McFarland says Texas Ten Commandments classroom displays gave her a renewed sense of hope as families ask the Supreme Court to block the law.

Battle Over Ten Commandments Arrives At Supreme Court Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 17 to review a federal appeals court decision that upheld a Texas law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit cleared the way in April for the Texas law to take effect. The state law known as Senate Bill 10, or SB 10, requires that public elementary and secondary schools conspicuously display in classrooms an easily readable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments with no additional commentary. The Fifth Circuit’s 9–8 ruling in Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District raised questions about freedom of religion and how the Supreme Court had ruled on these issues in the past. If the justices agree to hear the case, their potentially landmark ruling could change the legal landscape for how governments deal with religion. The Fifth Circuit said that the law complied with the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. The Texas law “looks nothing like a historical religious establishment,” because it does not tell houses of worship what to believe, how to worship, or whom to employ, the appeals court said. It does not punish people who reject the Ten Commandments, impose taxes to support the clergy, or require churches to carry out civic functions, the court said. “These are the kinds of things ‘establishments of religion’ did at the founding. [The Texas law] does none of them,” it said. The Fifth Circuit also held that a 1980 precedent, Stone v. Graham, which struck down a nearly identical classroom display law, is no longer binding. The circuit court ruling upholding the Texas statute came after a federal district court preliminarily blocked it, finding the law likely violates both the Constitution’s establishment clause, which forbids the government from favoring one religion over another, and the free exercise clause, which prohibits the government from infringing on worship and other activities. The district judge also found the displays would coerce students and interfere with parents’ rights to direct their children’s religious upbringing. The challenge in the district court was brought by a group of Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Baha'i, Unitarian Universalist, and nonreligious families. The families argue in the petition that the Texas law violates the Constitution by forcing religion on students, and that the Fifth Circuit misinterpreted Supreme Court precedent. The Ten Commandments Monument displayed at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. Oct. 15, 2004. Jana Birchum/Getty Images “The question of whether a state may impose scripture on impressionable, captive-audience children—for nearly every hour of every school day, for up to thirteen years—implicates the most fundamental guarantees of the First Amendment and our Nation’s highest ideals,” the ACLU said in the 314-page petition filed with the nation’s highest court on Aug. 17. Chloe Kempf, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, which is representing the families, said in a statement that the Supreme Court “has rejected this kind of government-imposed religion before, and it should do so again.” “Having these posters in Texas classrooms puts students at risk of bullying, stigmatization, and religious coercion. Our nation’s bedrock principle of separating church and state means that families and faith communities — not politicians — get to decide what role religion plays in children’s lives,” Kempf said. The Epoch Times reached out to the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment. No reply was received by publication time. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at an event in Magnolia, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times In April, Paxton praised the Fifth Circuit ruling, calling it “a major victory for Texas and our moral values.” “My office was proud to defend SB 10 and successfully ensure that the Ten Commandments will be displayed in classrooms across Texas,” he said at the time. “The Ten Commandments have had a profound impact on our nation, and it’s important that students learn from them every single day.” It is unclear when the justices will consider the petition. Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 17:00

In their Supreme Court brief, the families' attorneys argue that the law violates basic First Amendment principles governing the separation of church and state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil rights advocates on Monday said they asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Texas law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, teeing up a case that could set a new national standard for the limits of state-sponsored religious expression in classrooms.

Civil rights advocates on Monday said they asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Texas law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, teeing up a case that could set a new national standard for the limits of state-sponsored religious expression in classrooms.

Civil rights advocates have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Texas law requiring the state’s public schools to display the Ten Commandments

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A group of parents in Texas asked the United States (US) Supreme Court on Monday to block a state law that requires the Bible's Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups joined the parents of diverse faiths with children in Texas public schools in asking the top court to hear the case. "The US Supreme Court has rejected this kind of government-imposed religion before, and it should do so again," Chloe Kempf, an attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. "Our nation's bedrock principle of separating church and state means that families and faith communities -- not politicians -- get to decide what role religion plays in children's lives," Kempf said. In a similar case in 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the display of the Ten Commandments in schools in Kentucky was unconstitutional. However in April, a conservative-dominated appeals court ruled in favor of the Texas law, Senate Bill 10 (SB10), which requires the scripture to be posted in every classroom. The judges ruled that SB10 did not violate the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution, the part of the First Amendment that prohibits the government from establishing a national religion or showing preference to one over another. Conservatives enjoy a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court and the justices have sided with religious rights claims in a number of recent high-profile cases.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked the Supreme Court on Monday to hear its challenge to Texas’s law requiring public school classrooms to post the Ten Commandments.  Representing a group of parents from various faiths, the civil liberties organization says the law violates the First Amendment's religious protections. “As a rabbi and parent, forcing a...