Ten Commandments

A federal judge has granted a temporary halt to a new Texas law that requires the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. He found that it was a violation of the freedom of religion—but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is promising to appeal. We hear from Rabbi Mara Nathan about why she joined the suit and how she feels about the future of religious freedom in Texas.

Texas' Senate Bill 10, which requires the commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom in the state, is set to take effect Sept. 1. U.S. Judge Fred Biery, in a temporary injunction issued Wednesday, blocked several school districts in the Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio areas from following the new law.

Senate Bill 10, which is being challenged in court, will require the commandments to be displayed in every Texas public school classroom starting Sept. 1. Neither teachers nor their schools are required to provide or pay for the posters, but they can’t reject a donated poster. Houston Public Media took a look at those behind the effort.

Attorneys representing 16 Texas families of varying religious and nonreligious backgrounds requested an injunction to block Senate Bill 10 from taking effect, pending the outcome of a challenge to its constitutionality.

A quartet of civil liberties organizations is suing the state on behalf of 16 Texas families of various religious and non-religious backgrounds. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to stop Senate Bill 10, requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public-school classrooms, from taking effect on Sept. 1.

Sixteen Texas families of multiple faiths and nonreligious backgrounds filed the case against multiple school districts across the state, asserting Senate Bill 10 violates the Establishment and Free Expression Clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The organizations, which recently won a legal victory against Louisiana over its law requiring the Ten Commandments in schools, are also considering a suit against Texas over its new law allowing for prayer and Bible readings in public schools.

Kiss your gummies goodbye. Texas is on the verge of a total ban on hemp-derived THC. Lawsuits are coming after the GOP commanded putting the ten commandments in all classrooms. And lawmakers promised they would do something about water scarcity in Texas. Did they deliver?

Four civil liberties groups, some of which already are suing Louisiana over its law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public-school classrooms, plan to file a lawsuit against Texas as soon as Gov. Greg Abbott signs Senate Bill 10.