{"id":1522,"date":"2026-08-18T16:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2026-08-18T16:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:13:33","slug":"texas-families-ask-scotus-to-block-law-requiring-10-commandments-in-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1522","title":{"rendered":"Texas Families Ask SCOTUS to Block Law Requiring 10 Commandments in Classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Civil liberties groups representing several families in Texas submitted a legal filing to the Supreme Court on Monday, formally requesting the overturning of a lower court\u2019s opinion from earlier this year that allows the state to require the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. <\/p>\n

Last year, Texas Republican lawmakers passed Senate Bill 10, which requires a poster-sized display of the religious doctrine in every classroom. The law was challenged by , including Baha\u2019ism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, and nonreligious traditions. As one Baptist parent involved in the lawsuit explained last year, the law \u201cundermines the separation of church and state as a bedrock principle.\u201d<\/p>\n

A federal district-level judge agreed, finding the law to be unconstitutional, in violation of the First Amendment\u2019s religious freedom principles. However, in April, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals narrowly overturned that ruling in an en banc <\/em>decision, finding that Texas should be allowed to require the displays if lawmakers deemed it proper. <\/p>\n

The Fifth Circuit\u2019s ruling doesn\u2019t just appear to ignore those First Amendment protections, but also Supreme Court precedent itself, as the high court ruled nearly half a century ago, in 1980, that such displays as required by states were unlawful. Within that ruling, the Supreme Court noted that the purpose of such displays is \u201cto induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever desirable this might be as a matter of private devotion, it is not a permissible state objective under the Establishment Clause,\u201d the court found in that decision. <\/p>\n

The Texas parents filing the writ of certiorari <\/em>to the Supreme Court \u2014 the formal request for the court to hear the case \u2014 are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Texas, and Americans United (AU), a group that promotes religious neutrality and secularism in U.S. law. <\/p>\n

The court\u2019s current justices will likely decide within the next couple of months whether to accept the challenge to the Fifth Circuit\u2019s ruling, or to deny the writ and allow that court\u2019s decision to stand. Four justices are required for a writ to be accepted, resulting in the full Supreme Court hearing a case.<\/p>\n

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The writ cites the First Amendment\u2019s Establishment Clause in its justifications to overturn the Fifth Circuit\u2019s decision. It also notes how that appeals court is ignoring the Supreme Court\u2019s previous findings.<\/p>\n

The Fifth Circuit court \u201cflouted [the Supreme Court\u2019s] binding precedents and gutted the religious freedom rights of public school children and parents,\u201d . <\/p>\n

Several of the parents spoke out publicly in statements accompanying the submission of the writ.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a rabbi and parent, forcing a Christian version of the Ten Commandments on children in every classroom is particularly upsetting,\u201d said Houston-based Rabbi Joshua Fixler. \u201cI am not only worried about my own kids, but I\u2019m deeply concerned about all the children in my congregation. These displays put children in the position of having to defend themselves and their families\u2019 religious beliefs against a government mandate that makes them feel different and separate from their classmates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis law puts one version of religious beliefs above all others in our public schools and sends a message to our children that what we teach them about religion at home is somehow wrong,\u201d said interfaith couple Rebekah and Ted Lowe. <\/p>\n

The groups representing the parents also spoke out against the Texas law.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies \u2014 not politicians or public school officials \u2014 get to decide how, if, and when children engage with religion,\u201d said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. \u201cWe urge the Supreme Court to make clear that these Ten Commandments mandates violate students\u2019 and families\u2019 religious freedom as promised by the U.S. Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our country, no legislature can force its preferred scripture on public school students and families,\u201d added Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the ACLU.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThese displays put children in the position of having to defend themselves,\u201d one Texas parent said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTexas Families Ask SCOTUS to Block Law Requiring 10 Commandments in Classrooms - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1522\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas Families Ask SCOTUS to Block Law Requiring 10 Commandments in Classrooms - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThese displays put children in the position of having to defend themselves,\u201d one Texas parent said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1522\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-18T16:13:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1522#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1522\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"Texas Families Ask SCOTUS to Block Law Requiring 10 Commandments in Classrooms\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-18T16:13:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1522\"},\"wordCount\":722,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1522#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/5b4dc80e2df0dad46ede0c9b85d1a33b.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1522#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1522\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1522\",\"name\":\"Texas Families Ask SCOTUS to Block Law Requiring 10 Commandments in Classrooms - 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