The battle continues over Texas’ new law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms.
A new lawsuit has been filed to keep it from happening, and legal experts say the case could end up going to the Supreme Court.
Whether families can expect to see the displays in schools depends on which school district they attend and whether the district has been a part of lawsuits filed against this bill.
Texas law requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed on posters sized at least 16 by 20 inches in all public school classrooms.
“Public schools are not Sunday schools,” said Alex Luchinitser, associate vice president and legal director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “They are not a place to teach children religion or force any religion.”
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, along with other families and religious liberty groups, filed a lawsuit Monday against 14 school districts, including Conroe ISD in our area, seeking to at least temporarily stop them from putting up the displays.
This comes after a federal judge in August blocked the law for 11 districts, including HISD, Fort Bend, and Cy-Fair, that were named in a similar lawsuit.
READ MORE: Texas can’t put the Ten Commandments in certain school districts’ classrooms, judge says
Texas cannot require public schools in Houston, Austin and other select districts to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, a judge said.
Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has directed other districts that have not been named in lawsuits at this time to comply.
Pearland ISD recently notified parents that the district will be putting up displays soon.
University of Houston Law professor Johnny Rex Buckles said we can all expect even more lawsuits.
“The thinking is that because the United States Supreme Court has recently abandoned a test that its prior court relied on in favor of a test that looks more at history and tradition, that perhaps the Supreme Court would rule differently on essentially the same facts now,” Buckles said.
Buckles calls this a test case for the Supreme Court.
“It has already come down that the Louisiana law is unconstitutional, so it’s conceivable that this case or another case from another state could reach the Supreme Court more quickly than it often does just because there are multiple cases in the pike,” Buckles said.
ABC13 reached out to Ken Paxton’s office for comment, but did not hear back.
But, he has said in the past that the Ten Commandments are part of the nation’s heritage and should be put up.
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