A lawsuit by three Houston mothers to temporarily stop Texas public schools’ classrooms from displaying the Ten Commandments has been denied in a challenge to Senate bill 10.
The lawsuit demanded a temporary restraining order that would remove the displays. An additional hearing for a temporary injunction in the case is scheduled for Aug. 17.
In a July press release, one of the plaintiffs said that the Ten Commandments poster purposefully ignores religious differences in the classroom and will make students feel like they do not belong.
The plaintiffs are suing under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which the Legislature passed in 1999 and declares that “a government agency may not substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion.”
They are also suing under the recently approved Texas Proposition 15, known as the “Parental Rights Amendment,” which ensures parents have the right “to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing.”
Sixteen families sued 11 school districts to block the new law in July 2025. They argued that it violates the separation of church and and pressures students to embrace religious principles and values they may not align with. In August 2025, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery blocked the law in the targeted districts.
A ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this spring then permitted the enforcement of Senate Bill 10, stating that the Texas law did not violate the Constitution. The court also cleared the way for a similar law in Louisiana. Plaintiffs stated that they did not want a legal battle with the state of Texas, but wanted the poster removed from the classroom wall.