Good.
A federal judge in San Antonio temporarily halted a Texas law that would require public schools to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom by siding with a group of families who claimed the requirement harmed their children’s religious development.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, an appointee of former president Bill Clinton, issued the decision two days after the case’s first hearing concluded. Biery’s ruling found that children could be treated negatively by peers if perceived as “the other,” and that the law passes the line into coercion.
“Ultimately, in matters of conscience, faith, beliefs and the soul, most people are Garbo-esque,” Biery wrote, referencing a line from actress Greta Garbo in a 1932 movie. “They just want to be left alone, neither proselytized nor ostracized, including what occurs to their children in government-run schools.”
The court determined the defendants — which are Texas school districts — and “their officers, agents, affiliates, subsidiaries, servants, employees, successors, and all other persons or entities in active concert or privity or participation with them” are preliminarily enjoined from displaying the Ten Commandments.
[…]
The injunction issued in San Antonio technically covers the 11 defendants in the case. Those districts are Alamo Heights ISD, North East ISD, Lackland ISD, Northside ISD, Austin ISD, Lake Travis ISD, Dripping Springs ISD, Houston ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Cypress Fairbanks ISD and Plano ISD.
Weaver said all school districts have an “independent obligation” to respect students’ and families’ constitutional rights, and Biery’s decision makes it clear that SB10 is unconstitutional.
“With regard to the Free Exercise Clause, S.B. 10 is not neutral with respect to religion,” Biery wrote. “By design, and on its face, the statute mandates the display of expressly religious scripture in every public school classroom. The Act also requires that a Judeo-Christian version of that scripture be used, that is exclusionary of other faiths.”
In his 55-page ruling, Biery offered a fictional scenario: What would happen if excerpts from the Quran regarding honoring parents and not taking “a human life, except with legal right,” were displayed in public buildings and schools in a majority Muslim community?
“Imagine the consternation and legal firestorm were the following fictional story to become reality,” Biery wrote.
See here and here for the background. There’s still the North Texas case, which I presume will cover some if not all of the remaining districts. I still don’t know when that will be heard. Ken Paxton will of course appeal this, and we’ll see what happens from there. This one I think the state is more likely to lose than win based on previous experiences and the obvious overreach of this law, but you can never be too sure with the judiciary we have. But we’ll take the win for now. The 19th and the Press have more.
UPDATE: Paxton has appealed as expected.