Texas’ battle over required displays of the Ten Commandments in government school classrooms intensified again this week as civil rights groups filed a sweeping class-action suit aiming to block the law in every school district.
The newest case—filed in San Antonio federal court—names 16 additional school districts, including Katy, Clear Creek, Deer Park, Pearland, Magnolia, Richardson, Prosper, Wylie, Birdville, Carroll, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Medina Valley, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City, and Fort Sam Houston ISDs. These districts are identified as representatives of a defendant class that would encompass all Texas districts “similarly situated” under Senate Bill 10.
The filing asks the court to declare the Ten Commandments display mandate unconstitutional and to bar statewide enforcement.
It comes after two previous lawsuits secured preliminary injunctions blocking the law in a handful of districts such as Conroe, Houston, Fort Bend, and Cypress-Fairbanks ISDs. Because those injunctions apply only to the districts actually named in each case, the newest lawsuit seeks to prevent any remaining district from posting the required displays.
Senate Bill 10 mandates that every public elementary and secondary classroom display a donated Ten Commandments poster meeting specific size and textual requirements. The law was scheduled to take effect earlier this school year, but immediate legal challenges slowed implementation.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has instructed all districts not covered by injunctions to comply with SB 10 and has taken legal action against Round Rock, Leander, and Galveston ISDs for allegedly failing to do so. He has also pledged to defend districts that choose to post the displays while the lawsuits proceed.
The expanding litigation coincides with a major federal appellate hearing next month.
On January 20, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear arguments in both the Texas case and a parallel challenge to Louisiana’s similar mandate. All active judges agreed to take the case en banc, bypassing the typical three-judge panel and signaling the potential national significance of the dispute.
Meanwhile, districts newly named in the class-action lawsuit say they are continuing to follow state law unless directed otherwise by the courts. Pearland ISD’s communications director Aliana Wynn, for example, said the district is continuing to comply with all applicable state laws until the courts issue a ruling that says otherwise. Wynn also noted that Pearland ISD plans to cooperate with the attorney general’s office as needed.
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