Civil liberties organizations sue Texas over law requiring Ten Commandments display in public schools | Houston Public Media

A coalition of four civil liberties organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the state of Texas to challenge the constitutionality of a new law requiring the display of an explicitly Protestant translation of the Ten Commandments in all public-school classrooms.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed their complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on behalf of 16 Texas families of multiple religious and nonreligious backgrounds. Three of the four groups previously sued Louisiana and Arkansas to block similar legislation in those states. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the coalition, blocking implementation of the Louisiana law.

In their latest complaint, filed against school districts in the Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio areas, the plaintiffs argued Texas’ Senate Bill 10 violates the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the two components that underlie the concept of the separation of church and state.

“It’s important that we remember that Texas lawmakers are trying to force their religious beliefs into our public schools by requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom and that Texas schools are not Sunday schools,” said Sarah Kersting-Mumm, a litigation assistant with the ACLU of Texas. “And we also need to remember that we all have a First Amendment right to freedom of religion, and it’s important to be protecting that.”

The plaintiffs also plan to file a preliminary injunction, asking the court to block implementation of the law, pending the outcome of the litigation. Barring such court action, SB 10 is scheduled to take effect Sept. 1.

“We’re hoping that the court will move with max speed, as so many students are heading back to classrooms starting in August,” Kersting-Mumm said.

New York-based law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as pro bono counsel to the plaintiffs alongside the four civil liberties organizations.

“As a rabbi and a public-school parent, I am deeply concerned that SB 10 will impose another faith’s scripture on our students for nearly every hour of the school day,” Rabbi Mara Nathan, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement accompanying the announcement of the lawsuit. “While our Jewish faith treats the Ten Commandments as sacred, the 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 child.”

The plaintiffs included Christians as well.

“Posting the Ten Commandments in public schools is un-American and un-Baptist,” said Pastor Griff Martin. “SB 10 undermines the separation of church and state as a bedrock principle of my family’s Baptist heritage. Baptists have long held that the government has no role in religion – so that our faith may remain free and authentic. My children’s faith should be shaped by family and our religious community, not by a Christian nationalist movement that confuses God with power.”

Supporters of SB 10 have argued that a 2022 Supreme Court decision, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, invalidated an earlier Supreme Court precedent that barred displays of the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms. The Kennedy case involved a high school football coach praying on the football field during and after games. Kersting-Mumm countered that, in fact, the earlier ruling remains solid case law.

“Kennedy ruled that it is problematically coercive for public schools to promote religious messages to students in classrooms,” she said. “Promoting the Ten Commandments via posters in classrooms during instructional time, when children are a captive audience, is inappropriate.”

The suit follows a similar challenge filed late last month by the Dallas-based Next Generation Action Network Legal Advocacy Fund.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office — which would represent the school districts in any legal challenges under SB 10 — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.