Federal Judge Orders Texas School Districts to Remove Ten Commandments Displays

Judge ruled Texas’s new Ten Commandments display law was likely unconstitutional and ordered districts to remove the posters by early December.

FILE - A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway of the Georgia Capitol, Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Atlanta. In motions filed Monday, July 8, 2024, parents challenging a new Louisiana law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classrooms are asking a federal court to block implementation of it while their lawsuit progresses — and before the new school year starts. AP Photo/John Bazemore, File

A federal judge in Texas has ordered several public school districts to remove classroom displays of the Ten Commandments and barred them from posting new ones, ruling that a new state law requiring the displays likely violates the First Amendment.

In a Nov. 18 preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia found that Senate Bill 10—which mandates large, readable Ten Commandments posters in every public-school classroom—runs afoul of the Establishment Clause’s prohibition on government endorsement of religion.