Federal Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Ten Commandments in Texas Classrooms

In a split vote, the Fifth Circuit overturned the lower court ruling, upholding Texas Senate Bill 10.

A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway of the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta on June 20, 2024. AP Photo/John Bazemore, File

A federal appeals court ruled April 21 that the state of Texas may order every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments, marking a victory to supporters of the law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which voted 9–8, upheld Texas Senate Bill 10, overturning a lower-court injunction that had barred the 2025 law from taking effect.

“We conclude the Texas law does not violate either the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause,” Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote for the majority opinion.

Civil liberties groups for the plaintiffs, which included a coalition of 15 multi-faith Texas families, denounced the decision.

“We are extremely disappointed in today’s decision. The Court’s ruling goes against fundamental First Amendment principles and binding U.S. Supreme Court authority,” the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said in a joint statement.

“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights. We anticipate asking the Supreme Court to reverse this decision and uphold the religious-freedom rights of children and parents.”

The decision in Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District follows oral arguments made during the full 17-judge court hearing in January over both the Texas law and a parallel Louisiana mandate. The court permitted Louisiana’s law to proceed in February.

The Texas Legislature passed S.B. 10 in 2025, and Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure into law that same year. It was set to take effect on Sept. 1, 2025, requiring every classroom to post a framed or mounted English translation of the Ten Commandments measuring at least 16 by 20 inches so as to be read from anywhere in the room. The displays had to be paid for by donations, not school budgets.

After S.B. 10 passed, 16 families, represented by a coalition that included the ACLU of Texas, filed a lawsuit against 11 school districts. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio issued a preliminary injunction Aug. 20, 2025, ruling the law was in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed that ruling to the Fifth Circuit on Aug. 21, 2025.

Paxton issued a legal advisory warning schools to obey the new law, and went on to sue three districts, claiming they had not followed the law.

A second district judge, U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia, granted an additional preliminary injunction Nov. 18, 2025, calling on several school districts to take down the displays and banned them from posting new ones.

Garcia had determined S.B. 10 “runs afoul of the Establishment Clause’s prohibition on government endorsement of religion.”

A hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court is now likely.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of judges who dissented in the decision. The Epoch Times regrets the error.