Attorney General Ken Paxton is instructing Texas school districts to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms under a new state law. While ongoing litigation has halted the displays in 11 districts, Paxton is warning that the rest of the state is still expected to comply with the law.
Paxton directed all school districts not subject to the federal court order to follow the new state law and expressed his intention to “not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country” in the litigation initiated by “woke radicals seeking to erase our nation’s history.”
Paxton’s comments follow a preliminary injunction, a court order to stop an action, against the implementation of the state law issued by federal district Judge Fred Biery last week.
That injunction applies only to Alamo Heights ISD, North East ISD, Austin ISD, Cypress Fairbanks ISD, Lackland ISD, Lake Travis ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Houston ISD, Dripping Springs ISD, Plano ISD, and Northside ISD.
Judge Biery, appointed in 1993 by Democrat President Bill Clinton, made a similar decision against religion in Texas schools that prevented prayer during a ceremony. His decision was later overturned in an appellate court.
Federal court case Trump v. CASA (2025) established the “no piggybacking” rule in which federal court injunctions, such as this preliminary injunction, only grant relief to the litigants of the case at hand. This means Texas may still enforce the state law for school districts not enjoined by the federal court order.
The law requiring the Ten Commandments in every classroom is set to take effect on September 1.
It requires every classroom in government elementary and secondary schools to display a framed copy or durable poster of the Ten Commandments in a “conspicuous place.” Schools are not required to purchase the posters, though they are required to accept and display any donated copy that meets the requirements.