An Austin federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit against the state's funeral agency and its former presiding officer that alleges religious discrimination against the East Plano Islamic Center, or EPIC.
In a footnote, Ezra also wrote there is no evidence suggesting — and neither party is alleging — that EPIC is applying Sharia law in its practices, despite repeated public statements from Texas Republicans.
"In resolving the present Order, and without purporting to be an expert in Islamic teachings," Judge David Alan Ezra wrote, "the Court simply notes the absence of any evidence or allegation that Islamic burial rites qualify as 'Sharia law' of the sort that threaten Texas law," adding that the agency's cease-and-desist letter against the mosque fails to identify any specific aspect of its services that violate state law.
Ezra ruled then-presiding officer Kristin Tips' involvement and conduct in the Texas Funeral Service Commission's investigation into EPIC's funeral practices violated the mosque's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
"The Court finds that targeting an organization's religious funeral rites for prohibition while allowing similar rites by others and departing from longstanding TFSC practice violates EPIC's Free Exercise and Equal Protection rights," Ezra wrote in his opinion.
KERA News reached out to attorneys for Tips and the Texas Funeral Service Commission and will update this story with any response.
The funeral commission sent EPIC a cease-and-desist letter last March alleging the mosque was illegally operating as a funeral home without a license. That prompted EPIC's lawsuit four months later accusing the commission of illegal overreach and violating the mosque's religious rights.
The investigation was one of at least five state probes into EPIC prompted by Republican backlash over the mosque's proposed housing development in Collin and Hunt counties, formerly known as EPIC City and now called The Meadow. Opponents of EPIC and the development accuse the Islamic organization of trying to impose Sharia law in Texas.
The term "Sharia" refers to a body of religious laws that form parts of the Islamic traditions.
Later that month, the commission wrote in a court filing that EPIC would not be in violation of the cease-and-desist for services like helping members of the religious community get information on organizing funeral and burial rites or helping the deceased's loved ones get in contact with a funeral home or director.
But before the lawsuit was filed, text messages obtained by KERA News showed Kristin Tips, head commissioner of the agency at the time, and former executive director Scott Bingaman exchanged messages in May 2025 in which Tips shared anti-Islam media and photos of Muslim state lawmakers.
The messages included a link to a video saying EPIC's development would breed "terrorists" and a graphic comparing the tenets of Judaism and Christianity to the rules of Islam and Muslim countries, stating without context that the Quran states non-Muslims are "subhuman," and that touching the holy book as a non-Muslim, "can mean death."
EPIC alleged in an amended version of its lawusit that Tips' messages showed discriminatory conduct while the commission's investigation into EPIC was pending.
And former funeral commission staffers allege Gov. Greg Abbott's office escalated the agency's investigation into EPIC in a move motivated by politics and religious bias.
In a recorded phone call obtained by KERA News, one of Abbott's advisors told Bingaman the governor's general counsel would be looking through state funeral codes to find a way to prevent EPIC from getting a funeral license. The staffer proposed telling EPIC it couldn't operate as a funeral home because of its "moral and ethics code."
Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary, said in an emailed statement about the allegations that Abbott's office often works with state agencies like the funeral commission, and "entities seeking to impose Sharia law in our communities are not welcome in Texas."
Ezra wrote in his opinion that the context surrounding TFSC's investigation into EPIC shows "plausible bias" by Tips, who is named as a separate defendant in the lawsuit and filed her own motion to dismiss the suit. Ezra agreed with EPIC's arguments that in 1987 and 2014, the funeral service commission recognized two separate mosques' rights to perform funeral and burial rites without a license as long as they complied with state law.
Ezra's order denied Tips' claim that she's protected from EPIC's legal claims because of qualified immunity, a doctrine that can defend government officials from suit.
President Ronald Reagan appointed Ezra as a federal judge in Hawaii in 1988 and, as a senior judge, moved to the Western District of Texas to ease judge caseloads in 2012.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations of Texas said it welcomed Ezra's ruling in a statement Friday.
"For more than a year, Muslim Texans have watched public officials single out EPIC through repeated accusations that lacked evidentiary support," said Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of CAIR-Texas' Dallas-Fort Worth chapter. "This decision reinforces that every religious community deserves to be treated fairly and judged by the law: not by fear or political rhetoric."
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA's law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
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