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Texas families petition Supreme Court to review constitutionality of state law requiring Ten Commandments in public school classrooms

A coalition of over two dozen families from diverse religious and nonreligious backgrounds has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Texas law requiring every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments. The law, enacted in 2025, mandates the display of a specific King James Bible version of the scripture. Challengers argue that the permanent, unavoidable presence of the Ten Commandments in classrooms violates the First Amendment's separation of church and state. They contend that the state should not impose a single version of scripture on children, especially when families have different religious traditions. For example, Audrey Nath, one of the mothers suing the state, noted that the state-mandated version may conflict with her child's Hindu heritage. While a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the law, the families seek to overturn the 1980 Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar Kentucky law. They argue that the 5th Circuit's ruling relied on a new legal standard that may not be perfectly aligned with the founding-era religious establishments.

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