Fifteen multi-faith and nonreligious Texas families filed a new lawsuit in federal court today to stop 14 more public school districts from displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms to comply with Texas Senate Bill (S.B.) 10, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 21.
The complaint comes in response to school districts that have or are about to display Ten Commandments posters despite a federal court’s recent ruling that S.B. 10 is a clear violation of students’ families and families’ religious freedom, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement.
Plaintiffs in Cribbs Ringer v. Comal Independent School District also plan to file a motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction asking the court to require the defendant school districts to remove any Ten Commandments displays currently posted, and to refrain from hanging new ones.
A parent at Davenport High School Saturday told MyCanyonLake.com, “the commandments are going up” and that administrators placed 20 donated copies in 20 classrooms over some teachers’ objections.
MyCanyonLake.com reached out to Comal ISD’s Daniel Mendez for comment and will update this story Tuesday.
Also named as defendants in today’s lawsuit are Georgetown ISD, Conroe ISD, Flour Bluff ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Arlington ISD, McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, Northwest ISD, Azle ISD, Rockwall ISD, Lovejoy ISD, Mansfield ISD and McAllen ISD.
The complaint was filed in the United States District Court Western District of Texas San Antonio Division. To review the document, click here.
“This lawsuit, brought on behalf of a new group of Texas families, underscores a critical principle: public schools across the state must uphold—not undermine—the constitutional protections afforded to every student,” said Jon Youngwood, global co-chair of the Litigation Department at Simpson Thacher. “As multiple courts have reaffirmed, the First Amendment safeguards the rights of individuals to choose whether and how they engage with religion, and that protection extends to every classroom.”
A recent decision by the same court held S.B. 10’s provisions requiring the display of a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom are “plainly unconstitutional” under the First Amendment.
In August, U.S. Judge Fred Biery ruled S.B. 10 likely violates both the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment and temporarily blocked 11 public school districts from displaying the Ten Commandments.
However, a week later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged school districts not bound by that injunction to display the posters. Comal ISD was not bound by the injunction.
“From the beginning, the Ten Commandments have been irrevocably intertwined with America’s legal, moral, and historical heritage,” he said Aug. 25. “Schools not enjoined by ongoing litigation must abide by S.B. 10 and display the Ten Commandments. The woke radicals seeking to erase our nation’s history will be defeated. I will not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country.”