Texas public school districts are under growing pressure to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the state’s controversial law and supporters warned that a pending Supreme Court appeal does not put compliance on hold.
On April 21, 2026, the New Orleans based Fifth Circuit voted 9-7 to uphold Texas Senate Bill 10, which was enacted in 2025 and requires a poster of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in a visible spot in every public elementary and secondary school classroom in the state. The majority opinion, written by Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan and joined by Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod and seven other judges, said the law does not violate the Constitution’s prohibition on government establishment of religion or its protection of free exercise.
The Texas law requires no religious exercise or observance on the part of public school students, Duncan wrote. Students are neither catechized on the Commandments nor taught to adopt them, and no child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.
Crucially, the Fifth Circuit held that Stone v. Graham, the 1980 Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar Kentucky law, is no longer good law after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which discarded the long used Lemon test for Establishment Clause cases.
Challengers, including the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, say they plan to ask the Supreme Court to reverse the decision. Their lead attorney called the ruling contrary to fundamental First Amendment principles, arguing that it tramples the rights of children and parents.
But on October 13, 2026, Texas Values distributed updated legal guidance to all Texas public school districts, urging superintendents to comply immediately. The group’s policy director said the time for waiting is over, arguing that asking the Supreme Court to review the ruling does not suspend the law. The guidance notes an October 1 state court order requiring Galveston ISD to display donated posters within ten days, illustrating the enforcement risks of delay.
The Supreme Court has signaled interest in the broader fight: the justices are considering whether to take up the Texas dispute directly. A decision to grant review would set up a landmark church state confrontation with implications for similar laws in Arkansas and Louisiana.
Sources: SRN News, Texas Values. Image: Texas State Capitol, CC0 by Daderot via Wikimedia Commons.
