Overview

• Senate Bill 10, approved by Gov. Greg Abbott in late June, requires every public school classroom to display a framed Ten Commandments poster at least 16×20 inches and legible from any point.
• Sixteen families from Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist, Hindu and nonreligious backgrounds filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to halt the law.
• Plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU of Texas, the national ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
• The complaint argues SB 10 violates the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses by imposing a Protestant scripture on students of diverse faiths and beliefs.
• Federal courts have already enjoined similar Ten Commandments laws in Louisiana and Arkansas, and challengers are now seeking to block Texas’s mandate before it takes effect.