{"id":3597,"date":"2026-08-18T02:14:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T06:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3597"},"modified":"2026-08-18T02:14:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T06:14:58","slug":"texas-families-urge-u-s-supreme-court-to-hear-challenge-to-law-requiring-ten-commandments-in-public-school-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3597","title":{"rendered":"Texas Families Urge U.S. Supreme Court To Hear Challenge to Law Requiring Ten Commandments in Public School Classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

More than two dozen Texas families are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their challenge to a state law that requires public schools to post a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. The request<\/a>, filed today, urges the court to protect students\u2019 and parents\u2019 religious freedom by blocking Texas Senate Bill 10<\/a>, ensuring that families \u2014 not politicians \u2014 have the right to decide what role religion plays in their lives.<\/p>\n

The Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Baha’i, Unitarian Universalist, and nonreligious families challenging the Texas law attend 22 school districts across the state and are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. Today\u2019s petition seeks review of lower court rulings in two separate but similar cases<\/a>: Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District<\/em><\/a> and Cribbs Ringer v. Comal Independent School District<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under S.B. 10, Texas public schools must permanently display a state-mandated version of the Ten Commandments, drawn from the Protestant King James Bible, in a \u201cconspicuous\u201d place in each classroom, from kindergarten through 12th grade. The families challenging S.B. 10 object to the law because the displays will pressure children to conform to the state\u2019s favored religious beliefs and interfere with parents\u2019 right to guide their children\u2019s religious instruction.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Supreme Court filing, a joint petition for a writ of certiorari in both cases, follows an April decision by the en banc U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit allowing the state-selected version of the Ten Commandments to go up in the plaintiffs\u2019 classrooms. By a narrowly decided vote, the 5th Circuit ruled that S.B. 10 does not violate either the Establishment or Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment \u2014 despite a 1980 Supreme Court case striking down a nearly identical Kentucky law.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a rabbi and parent, forcing a Christian version of the Ten Commandments on children in every classroom is particularly upsetting,\u201d said plaintiff Rabbi Joshua Fixler (he\/him) of Houston<\/strong>. \u201cI am not only worried about my own kids, but I\u2019m deeply concerned about all the children in my congregation. These displays put children in the position of having to defend themselves and their families\u2019 religious beliefs against a government mandate that makes them feel different and separate from their classmates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas politicians shouldn\u2019t have a seat at the table in deciding how our children receive their religious education. That decision belongs to our family,\u201d said plaintiffs Rebekah (she\/her) and Ted Lowe (he\/him)<\/strong>, an Austin-based interfaith couple who are raising their children in the Christian and Jewish traditions. \u201cThis law puts one version of religious beliefs above all others in our public schools and sends a message to our children that what we teach them about religion at home is somehow wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy requiring displays of religious doctrine in every classroom, the state is interfering with our family\u2019s decisions about how our children engage with religion,\u201d said plaintiff Nichole Manning (she\/her), a Dallas-area atheist<\/strong> who is raising her children in a nonreligious tradition that gives them the space and autonomy to develop their own beliefs about religion. \u201cAs a parent, I intentionally choose to have my children attend public school because I prefer an educational environment without any religious affiliation. In a diverse public school environment, all students should be treated with equal respect, regardless of their religious beliefs, or lack thereof.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. Supreme Court has rejected this kind of government-imposed religion before, and it should do so again,\u201d said Chloe Kempf (she\/her), staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas<\/strong>. \u201cHaving these posters in Texas classrooms puts students at risk of bullying, stigmatization, and religious coercion. Our nation\u2019s bedrock principle of separating church and state means that families and faith communities \u2014 not politicians \u2014 get to decide what role religion plays in children\u2019s lives. Texas students deserve public schools that welcome them for who they are, respect their religious or nonreligious backgrounds, and give them the high-quality education they need to build their futures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFifty years ago, the ACLU won a Supreme Court victory against a nearly identical Kentucky law \u2014 and we aim to do it again,\u201d said Cecillia Wang (she\/her), national legal director of the ACLU<\/strong>. \u201cIn our country, no legislature can force its preferred scripture on public school students and families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies \u2013 not politicians or public school officials \u2013 get to decide how, if, and when children engage with religion,\u201d said Rachel Laser (she\/her), president and CEO of Americans United<\/strong>. \u201cWe urge the Supreme Court to make clear that these Ten Commandments mandates violate students\u2019 and families\u2019 religious freedom as promised by the U.S. Constitution. With ever more states attempting to force one version of religion into public school classrooms, our nation must recommit to our foundational promise of church-state separation, the lynchpin of religious liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case concerns decisions about personal belief and religious instruction, and whether under our Constitution they remain with families and faith communities or are commandeered by the state,\u201d said Jon Youngwood (he\/him), global co-chair of the Litigation Department at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP<\/strong>. \u201cThe First Amendment has long protected the freedom of individuals to determine for themselves how they engage with spirituality and religion. Those protections are especially important in the public-school setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Commandment, dictating which god must be worshipped, is the antithesis of our First Amendment,\u201d said Annie Laurie Gaylor (she\/her), co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation<\/strong>. \u201cIt is not the government\u2019s role to daily expose young children to a coercive display of one religion\u2019s set of religious edicts in our public schools. Our public schools exist to educate, not to proselytize.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lowe and Fixler families share more about how they will be impacted by these Ten Commandments displays and why they oppose them in newly released, heartfelt videos that can be viewed here<\/a>; transcripts are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Access the U.S. Supreme Court certiorari filing here: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.aclutx.org\/app\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10C-SCOTUS-Petition.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than two dozen Texas families are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their challenge to a state law that requires public schools to post a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. The request, filed today, urges the court to protect students\u2019 and parents\u2019 religious freedom by blocking Texas Senate Bill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[742],"class_list":["post-3597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ciencia-y-tecnologia","tag-vr-news-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}