Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday directed public schools across the state to display the Ten Commandments staring Sept. 1. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton directed schools across the Lone Star State to display the Ten Commandments less than a week after a federal court ruled in favor of 11 school districts that fought against the exhibition of the Decalogue in classrooms.
“From the beginning, the Ten Commandments have been irrevocably intertwined with America’s legal, moral and historical heritage,” Paxton said Monday in a statement.
“The work of 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.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10 into law June 10, directing every classroom in Texas public schools to display the Ten Commandments, starting Sept. 1 when the legislation takes effect.
The bill was swiftly met with litigation from a handful of school districts.
On Wednesday, Judge Fred Biery of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued the 11 school districts a preliminary injunction enjoining them from S.B. 10, ruling the bill “crosses the line from exposure to coercion” and burdens their exercise of religious or nonreligious beliefs “in substantial ways.”
“Even though the Ten Commandments would not be affirmatively taught, the captive audience of students likely would have questions, which teachers would feel compelled to answer. That is what they do,” Biery, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote in his ruling.
“Teenage boys, being the curious hormonally driven creatures they are, might ask: ‘Mrs. Walker, I know about lying and I love my parents, but how do I do adultery?’ Truly an awkward moment for overworked and underpaid educators, who already have to deal with sex education issues … and a classic example of the law of unintended consequences in legislative edicts.”
Paxton’s directive is for schools not enjoined by the ruling.
Two days following the ruling, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas sent a letter to the state’s public school superintendents warning them not to implement S.B. 10, calling it an unconstitutional law.
“Even though your district is not a party to the ongoing lawsuit, all school districts have an independent obligation to respect students’ and families’ constitutional rights,” the ACLU of Texas said in the letter.
“Because the U.S. Constitution supersedes state law, public school officials may not comply with S.B. 10.”
The Constitution does not explicitly mention the Decalogue but does state that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
In 1980, the Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Kentucky.
