A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction requiring Comal ISD and other Texas school districts to remove Ten Commandments displays by Dec. 1 and to prohibit the posting of new displays.
The order by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia is in response to a lawsuit filed Sept. 22 by a group of 15 multifaith and nonreligious families with children attending schools in the districts.
The judge ruled that displaying the Ten Commandments on the wall of a public-school classroom, as set forth in Texas Senate Bill 10, which went into effect Sept. 1, violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“It is impractical, if not impossible, to prevent Plaintiffs from being subjected to unwelcome religious displays without enjoining Defendants from enforcing S.B. 10 across their districts,” Garcia said in his order.
Cribbs Ringer v. Comal Independent School District was filed after the defendant school districts installed or were about to install Ten Commandments posters.
In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said districts were proceeding with displays despite U.S. District Judge Fred Biery’s Aug. 20 order in a separate lawsuit, Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD, in which he called the Texas law requiring the displays “plainly unconstitutional.”
After that order was issued organizations representing families in both lawsuits sent letters to all Texas school districts urging them not to implement the law.
In late September, a parent at Comal ISD’s Davenport High School confirmed “the commandments are going up,” adding administrators placed 20 donated copies in 20 classrooms over some teachers’ objections.
Districts named in Cribbs Ringer include Arlington ISD, Azle ISD, Conroe ISD, Flour Bluff ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Frisco ISD, Georgetown ISD, Lovejoy ISD, Mansfield ISD, McAllen ISD, McKinney ISD, Northwest ISD and Rockwall ISD.
Today’s preliminary injunction does not apply to all school districts.
But Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Orlando’s ruling puts all Texas public school districts on notice.
“It’s plainly unconstitutional to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms,” she said. “Families throughout Texas and across the country get to decide how and when their children engage with religion — not politicians or public school officials.”
MyCanyonLake.com has reached out to Comal ISD for comment.