Texas can enforce a state law requiring public schools to display posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
A 9-8 majority of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Texas officials’ favor, concluding that the law does not establish an official state religion.
“It does not tell churches or synagogues or mosques what to believe or how to worship or whom to employ as priests, rabbis, or imams,” according to the ruling. “It punishes no one who rejects the Ten Commandments, no matter the reason.”
The court heard arguments in January after 16 families sued over the law, alleging that it amounted to state leaders promoting their interpretation of Christianity over other faiths.
All 17 active judges on the court listened to the case — Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District — alongside a similar challenge in Louisiana, the first state to pass a Ten Commandments requirement for its public schools. The court cleared the way in February for Louisiana to fully implement its law.
After Tuesday’s decision, the civil rights organizations representing the families expressed disappointment.
“The court’s ruling goes against fundamental First Amendment principles and binding U.S. Supreme Court authority,” the groups said in a statement. “The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights.”
See here for the previous update. They did the same thing with Louisiana, so I guess we can’t say we didn’t see this coming. I’m too exhausted to be outraged right now, so I will just say that whatever reforms we may have in mind for the corrupt SCOTUS in 2029 (hopefully no later than that), they go double for the even more corrupt Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit cannot stand as it is now, and they’re not the only appeals court for which that is true. If we don’t fix that problem as well, we’re doing it wrong.
UPDATE: Slate points out how the Fifth Circuit directly defied SCOTUS precedent in this ruling, which if we are lucky will come back to bite them in the ass.