Texas Families Ask Supreme Court to Void Ten Commandments School Law After 9-8 Appeals Ruling
Updated
Updated · PBS NewsHour · Aug 17
Texas Families Ask Supreme Court to Void Ten Commandments School Law After 9-8 Appeals Ruling
3 articles · Updated · PBS NewsHour · Aug 17
Summary
Over two dozen Texas families petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a state law requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
Their appeal targets an April 9-8 ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which revived the law after a lower federal court had blocked about a dozen school districts.
The families, backed by the ACLU and other groups, argue Texas is imposing scripture on students for nearly every hour of the school day for up to 13 years, violating First Amendment church-state limits.
Texas' law took effect last September after Gov. Greg Abbott signed it, and because displays need only be donated, conservative groups began delivering boxes of posters to campuses.
The case could help set a national standard as Southern Republican-led states expand similar mandates; Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas passed such laws, and Alabama enacted one this year.