Texas’ Ten Commandments School Display Draws Another Suit

A second group of church leaders and parents are challenging a Texas law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

The law, which Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed last month, “simply cannot be reconciled with the fundamental religious freedom principles that animated the Founding of our nation,” the plaintiffs wrote in the Wednesday complaint.

The filing in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas comes a comes a week after a different set of church leaders and parents brought suit in the state’s northern district.

The plaintiffs in the latest case say the displays “will pressure students” into “adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture,” a Protestant version of the commandments.

Among them are leaders in the Jewish, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches, some of them parents to children in Texas public schools.

They’re asking a judge to declare that the law, known as SB 10, violates the First Amendment before it takes effect on Sept. 1.

The defendants are school districts in and around San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and Dallas.

The case comes two weeks after the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled a Louisiana law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments will remain blocked.

The plaintiffs are represented by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc., Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The case is Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, W.D. Tex., No. 5:25-cv-00756, 7/2/25.