A coalition of civil liberties groups plans to challenge a Texas law Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in all public-school classrooms. They include some of the same groups that notched a win against a similar law from Louisiana in a federal appeals court last week.
Abbott signed Senate Bill 10 into law Saturday, one day after a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Louisiana's law unconstitutional. Texas had filed an amicus brief in support of Louisiana’s law.
Supporters of SB 10 and its Louisiana counterpart argued the Ten Commandments underlie all of U.S. law and should be posted in classrooms as a historical document. But Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said both the Louisiana and Texas laws fly in the face of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"The Constitution has these two parts of its religion clause. The first part is about protecting the free exercise of religion, and the second part is about preventing the establishment of religion," Laser said. "So, the two work in this healthy tension to protect religious freedom for all. The Free Exercise clause allows you to practice your religious beliefs to your fill, until your fist swings into someone else's nose. And at that point, the government won't prefer your religion to that other person's religion, and that's where the Establishment Clause comes in."
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has already said the state will appeal the ruling to the full 5th Circuit bench – and if necessary, to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court – over time, over a long time, including conservative justices – have bent over backwards to protect the religious freedom of schoolchildren," Laser said. "Children are captive audiences in schools. They're required to go to school. The 5th Circuit just talked about that again, by the way, in its decision. And they're also impressionable. ... They're vulnerable to being bullied or ostracized by their peers if they're not the right religion."
Laser's group said Americans United will join with the other two parties suing Louisiana — the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation – along with the ACLU of Texas in challenging Texas' SB 10 on the same grounds as the Louisiana law.
"It would be a sea change for our democracy if public schools were allowed to favor one set of religious beliefs," Laser said. "This version of the Ten Commandments in Texas law is one specific version. It's a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments."
Laser said the four groups are also considering suing Texas over another new law, Senate Bill 11, which would let school districts set aside time for students and faculty to pray or read religious scripture. The lawmakers behind SB 11 said they had designed it specifically to withstand the type of legal challenges Laser meant to raise.
“Participation is entirely voluntary and requires a signed consent form from the employee or the parent or guardian of the student,” state Rep. David Spiller (R-Jacksboro), the bill's House sponsor, said when he introduced the bill to the House Committee on State Affairs in May. “Schools must ensure that nonconsenting individuals are not exposed to the prayer or readings and may restrict the activities to designated areas or times, such as before school. Use of public address systems is prohibited, and the period may not replace instructional time.”
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