Updated on: April 21, 2026 / 11:31 PM EDT / CBS Texas
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a Texas law that requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in each classroom, according to an opinion released Tuesday.
In June 2025, the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 10, which mandates that public elementary and secondary school classrooms display a “durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments.” The statute specifies the display must be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall, use an easily readable typeface, and be placed “in a conspicuous place.”
A lawsuit filed in early December 2025 challenged the law as a First Amendment violation. The American Civil Liberties Union and religious freedom organizations sued in U.S. District Court in San Antonio on behalf of 18 families with children in public schools across Texas. Sixteen school districts were named as defendants.
The appeals court concluded SB 10 does not improperly establish or endorse religion nor prevent individuals from practicing their faith. The opinion said, in part, that the law “does not tell churches or synagogues or mosques what to believe or how to worship or whom to employ as priests, rabbis, or imams. It punishes no one who rejects the Ten Commandments, no matter the reason. It levies no taxes to support any clergy. It does not co-opt churches to perform civic functions. These are the kinds of things ‘establishments of religion’ did at the founding. S.B. 10 does none of them.”
Plaintiffs argued they did not want their children “forced to observe and venerate a state-mandated version of the Ten Commandments each school day, in violation of their religious freedom,” the ACLU said. The court rejected that claim, finding SB 10 requires no religious exercise or observance.
The opinion added that “students are neither catechized on the Commandments nor taught to adopt them,” and teachers are not required to proselytize or contradict students who disagree. The court noted that historical coercion by establishments of religion involved mandatory worship and prescribed liturgies, whereas SB 10 merely places a poster on a classroom wall. It further said exposing children to religious language alone does not make the displays “engines of coercive indoctrination,” emphasizing the statute authorizes no religious instruction and does not compel recitation or belief.
The ACLU said it was “extremely disappointed” and argued the decision conflicts with First Amendment principles and Supreme Court authority, saying it undermines the separation of church and state and families’ rights over religious instruction.
Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the Senate author of the bill, hailed the ruling as a victory, saying the Ten Commandments have had a major impact on Western and American moral and legal codes and that placing the document in classrooms will provide moral clarity and historical context.
The case could ultimately be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.