Civil Rights Advocates Seek Supreme Court Review of Texas Law on Ten Commandments in Schools
WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of civil rights groups has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to evaluate a Texas statute mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. This case could potentially set a new precedent regarding religious expression in educational settings.
Since the law’s implementation nearly a year ago, posters of the Ten Commandments have been installed in classrooms across Texas, a state that educates approximately 5.5 million students. Earlier this year, an appellate court decision allowed the enforcement of the Texas law, as well as a similar statute in Louisiana. States like Arkansas and Alabama have enacted comparable laws.
Heather Weaver, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, emphasized the significance of the issue, stating, “This is an issue of nationwide importance because a number of states have been considering these laws in recent years.”
More than two dozen families from Texas, represented by the ACLU and other organizations, have requested the Supreme Court to address their case following a 9-8 ruling by the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April, which upheld the Texas law. “We would like for the Supreme Court to make clear that singling out Scripture for display in public schools is a violation of the First Amendment,” Weaver stated.
The Texas Attorney General’s office, led by Ken Paxton, has not yet issued a comment on the matter.
In a brief submitted to the Supreme Court, the families’ attorneys argue that the Texas law breaches fundamental First Amendment principles concerning the separation of church and state. They contend, “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 (13) years — implicates the most fundamental guarantees of the First Amendment and our Nation’s highest ideals.”
The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit’s decision overturned prior federal court rulings that had restricted some Texas school districts from displaying the posters. Republican Governor Greg Abbott enacted the law, which became effective last September. Since the law requires districts to exhibit the Ten Commandments only if they are donated, conservative organizations and individuals began delivering boxes of posters to schools throughout the state as the previous academic year commenced.
The 5th Circuit’s decision noted, “No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”
In a related precedent, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that a similar law in Kentucky violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits Congress from enacting any law respecting an establishment of religion. The court determined that the Kentucky law had no secular purpose and served a distinctly religious objective.
