Judge Halts Texas Law Mandating the Ten Commandments in School

A federal judge in Texas temporarily halted on Wednesday a state law that would have required the Ten Commandments to be visibly displayed in every public school classroom by Sept. 1.

The law, passed earlier this year by the Republican-controlled Legislature, mirrors one in Louisiana that was declared “plainly unconstitutional” in June by a panel of judges from the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. A federal judge also blocked a nearly identical measure in Arkansas this month.

In Texas, 16 families from different faith backgrounds brought the legal challenge. They argued that the law would pressure students to adopt a state-favored religious scripture and that it amounted to a clear violation of the separation of church and state.