Federal judge rules law requiring display of Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms unconstitutional

A federal judge ruled that a Texas law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every general school classroom in the state is unconstitutional U S District Judge Orlando L Garcia ascertained that Senate Bill violates the Establishment Clause of the U S Constitution that prevents the cabinet from establishing or favoring a religion I am relieved that as a effect of today's ruling my children who are among a small number of Jewish children at their schools will no longer be continually subjected to religious displays plaintiff Lenee Bien-Willner noted in a comment The governing body has no business interfering with parental decisions about matters of faith Garcia's order directs school authorities in the school districts included in the lawsuit to remove the displays by Dec FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TEXAS CITIZENS SCHOOLS FROM DISPLAYING TEN COMMANDMENTS IN CLASSROOMSThe judge's order only applies to certain districts but the American Civil Liberties Union the ACLU of Texas Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation are calling on all districts to ignore the state law The independent school districts of Comal Georgetown Conroe Flour Bluff Fort Worth Arlington McKinney Frisco Northwest Azle Rockwall Lovejoy Mansfield and McAllen are affected by the ruling The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU on Sept on behalf of multifaith families who are a part of school districts in the Lone Star State The ACLU also filed a similar lawsuit over the summer on behalf of other Texas families TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON ENCOURAGES SCHOOLS TO BRING BACK PRAYER WE WANT THE WORD OF GOD OPENED In the current era s ruling is yet another affirmation of what Texans already know The First Amendment guarantees families and faith communities not the regime the right to instill religious beliefs in our children Chloe Kempf staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas disclosed in a report Our schools are for training not evangelization This ruling protects thousands of Texas students from ostracization bullying and state-mandated religious coercion Every school district in Texas is now on notice that implementing S B violates their students constitutional rights she continued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton a Republican running for U S Senate sued two school districts Round Rock ISD and Leander ISD for allegedly refusing to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms These rogue ISD executives and board members blatantly disregarded the will of Texas voters who expect the legal and moral heritage of our state to be displayed in accordance with the law Paxton revealed in the news release Round Rock ISD and Leander ISD chose to defy a clear statutory mandate and this lawsuit makes clear that no district may ignore Texas law without consequence he added