Louisiana Ten Commandments Law Struck Down as Texas Faces Court Fight

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on 20 June blocked Louisiana from enforcing a law that would have required the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom of public schools and universities. The judges found the mandate a clear violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, halting what they called an “irreparable” intrusion on students’ religious freedom.

One day later, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10, ordering all of the state’s roughly 9,100 public schools to post a 16-by-20-inch poster of a specified Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in a conspicuous place. With nearly six million pupils, Texas is the largest state to impose such a requirement. The law is scheduled to take effect on 1 September 2025.

Opponents moved quickly to challenge the Texas statute. On 25 June a coalition of Dallas-area families and faith leaders filed a federal suit contending the measure coerces religious observance and marginalises non-Christian students. A second lawsuit, lodged on 2 July by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation on behalf of 16 multifaith and non-religious families, seeks an injunction against the Texas Education Agency and eleven school districts.

Both complaints cite the Fifth Circuit’s Louisiana opinion and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1980 Stone v. Graham decision, arguing that the state-mandated display is “plainly unconstitutional.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, required by Senate Bill 10 to defend the measure, has signalled the state will fight the cases, which come amid similar litigation in Arkansas and other conservative-led states pushing to place religious texts in public classrooms.