A federal judge smacked down a Texas law that ordered every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments, ruling the mandate unconstitutional and handing a win to the groups that sued to block it.
U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia said Senate Bill 10 trampled the Establishment Clause, which bars the government from endorsing religion. His order forces the districts named in the lawsuit to strip the displays by Dec. 1.
Plaintiff Lenee Bien-Willner, a Jewish parent, said she was “relieved” by the decision. “I am relieved that as a result of today’s ruling, my children, who are among a small number of Jewish children at their schools, will no longer be continually subjected to religious displays,” she said. “The government has no business interfering with parental decisions about matters of faith.”
The ruling covers the Comal, Georgetown, Conroe, Flour Bluff, Fort Worth, Arlington, McKinney, Frisco, Northwest, Azle, Rockwall, Lovejoy, Mansfield and McAllen districts. But the ACLU, the ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation are urging all schools to ignore the state’s order.