{"id":2646582,"date":"2026-08-18T14:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-asked-to-weigh-texas-law-requiring-ten-commandments-in-school-classrooms\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T14:52:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:52:51","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-asked-to-weigh-texas-law-requiring-ten-commandments-in-school-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-asked-to-weigh-texas-law-requiring-ten-commandments-in-school-classrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS Asked To Weigh In On Ten Commandments In Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-asked-to-weigh-texas-law-requiring-ten-commandments-in-school-classrooms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2646582&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to review the constitutionality of a Texas law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. The case, Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, originates from a challenge by parents and advocacy groups against SB 10, which mandates that public schools display a poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments in each classroom. The plaintiffs argue that the law violates the First Amendment&#8217;s Establishment Clause by endorsing religion and infringes upon their free exercise rights by pressuring children to honor the Commandments.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, a Texas district court granted a preliminary injunction to block the law, but the Fifth circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, ruling 9-8 that the law does not violate constitutional protections. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and it&#8217;s clients have filed a petition with the Supreme Court, urging it to take the case, asserting that the law is coercive and undermines religious freedoms.<\/p>\n<p>Advocates for displaying the Commandments point to past and traditional contexts, noting that similar displays have existed on public property and that such practices are consistent with the founding principles. The Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to hear the case will depend on at least four justices agreeing to review it, marking a meaningful moment in ongoing debates over religion and public education.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The U.S. Supreme Court has officially been asked to weigh the constitutionality of a Texas law requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>The moment came on Monday, when the left-wing American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its clients <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/texas-families-urge-u-s-supreme-court-to-take-case-on-texas-law-requiring-ten-commandments-in-public-school-classrooms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/cases\/nathan-v-alamo-heights-independent-school-district?document=Joint-Petition-for-Writ-of-Certiorari\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">petition<\/a> requesting the high court take up and hear arguments in <em>Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District<\/em>. The case involves a challenge by various religious and nonreligious parents against <a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/TX\/bill\/SB10\/2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 10<\/a>, a Texas law signed last year that mandates that public elementary and secondary schools display \u201cin a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/appellate-courts\/ca5\/25-50695\/25-50695-2026-04-21.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Justia<\/a>, the challengers argued that the statute violates the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscourts.gov\/about-federal-courts\/educational-resources\/about-educational-outreach\/activity-resources\/first-amendment-and-religion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">First Amendment<\/a>\u2019s establishment clause \u201cby effectively endorsing religion.\u201d They also charged that it breached the amendment\u2019s free exercise clause \u201cby undermining their rights to direct their children\u2019s religious upbringing and coercing their children to honor or revere the Commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist\u2019s John Daniel Davidson previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/21\/the-ten-commandments-should-be-taught-in-classrooms-not-just-hung-on-the-wall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">observed<\/a>, federal courts have misinterpreted the First Amendment\u2019s establishment clause in decades prior to \u201cexcise nearly all formal recognition of religion from America\u2019s public schools.\u201d This includes the Supreme Court, which cited the clause in its 1980 <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/1980\/80-321\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stone v. Graham<\/a><\/em>  decision to nullify a Kentucky statute requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. <\/p>\n<p>The <em>Stone<\/em> ruling was referenced by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in its August 2025 decision granting the ACLU and Co.\u2019s request for a preliminary injunction blocking the Texas law from taking effect. The lower court held that the challengers were likely to succeed on their First Amendment arguments.<\/p>\n<p>That decision was subsequently <a href=\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-21-PUBLISHED-OPINION-FILED.-25-50695-Reversed-Judge-Nathan-v.-Alamo-Heights-ISD-ca5-2025-50695-00507945887.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overturned<\/a> (9-8) by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/en_banc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">en banc<\/a> 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in April. Writing for the majority, Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan found that the Texas law \u201cdoes not violate either the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause,\u201d and that several of the precedents plaintiffs relied on are no longer applicable given the high court\u2019s more recent jurisprudence on the subject. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe REVERSE the district court\u2019s judgment, VACATE the preliminary injunction, and RENDER judgment dismissing Plaintiffs\u2019 Establishment and Free Exercise claims,\u201d Duncan wrote. <\/p>\n<p>In their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/cases\/nathan-v-alamo-heights-independent-school-district?document=Joint-Petition-for-Writ-of-Certiorari\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">petition<\/a> to the Supreme Court, the ACLU and its co-plaintiffs regurgitated many of the arguments that the 5th Circuit rejected. They contended that \u201cit is \u2018problematically coercive\u2019 for public schools to impose religious messages on a \u2018captive audience\u2019 of students,\u201d and that \u201cparents\u2019 free-exercise right to direct their children\u2019s religious education is burdened when public-school instruction \u2018substantially interfere[s] with the religious development\u2019 of their children or \u2018pose[s] \u201ca very real threat of undermining\u201d the religious beliefs and practices the parent[s] wish[] to instill in the[ir] child[ren].\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Court should grant the petition because the court of appeals, in upholding S.B. 10, flouted this Court\u2019s binding precedents and gutted the religious-freedom rights of public-school children and parents,\u201d the petition reads.<\/p>\n<p>Writing in these pages, Conscience Project Director and attorney Andrea Picciotti-Bayer previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/03\/31\/yes-its-completely-constitutional-for-the-u-s-government-to-promote-christianity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted<\/a> how, \u201cdespite a widespread misunderstanding of the role of Christianity in our founding and decades of bad Supreme Court rulings, such [Ten Commandments] displays <em>are<\/em> constitutional.\u201d She further highlighted the \u201clong history and tradition of monuments of the Ten Commandments on public property,\u201d and pointed out how numerous federal buildings in Washington, D.C., contain \u201cscriptural engravings\u201d that have never been categorized as an \u201cestablishment of religion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the founders were uniformly opposed to government imposing religion, they did think religion, especially Christianity, was extremely important to the founding of the country,\u201d Picciotti-Bayer wrote. \u201cThey understood that humans are created in the image of God and instilled with dignity. And if people have dignity, they must have rights to protect that dignity. This is the religious inspiration for the huge number of rights enumerated for all citizens at the founding of the republic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ACLU\u2019s <em>Nathan<\/em> petition is one of many the Supreme Court will consider heading into its October 2026 term. At least four justices must agree to hear a case before it can be considered by the full court. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court asked to review Texas Ten Commandments law<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2646584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ten-Commandments.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[42530,32274,32275,32069],"class_list":["post-2646582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-education-law","tag-religious-freedom","tag-supreme-court","tag-ten-commandments"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ten-Commandments.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2646582"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2646587,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646582\/revisions\/2646587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2646584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2646582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2646582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2646582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}