Texas Public Schools Are Being Sued For Not Displaying The 10 Commandments

Schools are being forced to weigh whether to follow Texas law or the U.S. Constitution.

The long battle over injecting Christianity into public schools is escalating in Texas, as state Attorney General Ken Paxton pursues lawsuits against schools that have refused to comply with a state law saying the Ten Commandments must be displayed in classrooms.

The law has put schools in a difficult position, forcing them to weigh whether to follow Texas law or the U.S. Constitution. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Ten Commandments displays in Kentucky public schools, because the Constitution prohibits the government from establishing a religion.

“Most of the time, states don’t pass laws that are contrary to Supreme Court precedent,” Seth Chandler, a constitutional law professor at the University of Houston, told HuffPost.

For example, he noted, Texas, like many other states, passed abortion bans before 2022. But those laws couldn’t take effect until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

“But with the Ten Commandments, we didn’t see any delay,” Chandler said.