Texas can require public schools to display Ten Commandments in classrooms, US appeals court rules

DALLAS (AP) — Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday in a victory for conservatives who have long sought to incorporate more religion into schools.

It sets up a potential clash at the U.S. Supreme Court over the issue in the future.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said in the decision that the law did not violate either the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

The law is among the pushes by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, to incorporate religion into public schools. Critics say it violates the separation of church and state while backers argue that the Ten Commandments are historical and part of the foundation of U.S. law.

The ruling comes after the full court heard arguments in January in the Texas case and a similar case in Louisiana. The appeals court in February cleared the way for Louisiana’s law, requiring displays of the commandments in public school classrooms. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 12-6 to lift a block that a lower court first placed on the law in 2024.

Texas law took effect on Sept. 1, marking the largest attempt in the nation to hang the Ten Commandments in public schools. About two dozen school districts had been barred from posting them after federal judges issued injunctions in two cases against the law but went up in many classrooms across the state as districts paid to have the posters printed themselves or accepted donations.