A monument displaying the Ten Commandments stands at the Texas Capitol Building. Credit: Shutterstock / Geoff Nelson
The ACLU and other civil liberties organizations said Thursday they will sue Texas over Senate Bill 10, a controversial measure that would require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

The ACLU and ACLU Texas joined Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Freedom from Religion Foundation in a statement saying they’ll take legal action to stop implementation of SB 10. The measure is nearly identical to a Louisiana law struck down in federal court last fall for violating the constitutional separation of church and state.

“SB 10 is blatantly unconstitutional,” the groups said in a joint statement. “We will be working with Texas public school families to prepare a lawsuit to stop this violation of students’ and parents’ First Amendment rights.”

After final approval Wednesday by the Republican-controlled legislature, the bill is now on the desk of Governor Abbott, who’s expected to sign it into law.

As GOP lawmakers worked over the holiday weekend to pass the legislation, state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, noted the irony of debating the bill on the Sabbath, a violation of the Fourth Commandment.

Under SB 10, public schools must display posters of the Ten Commandments in a conspicuous location “in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.” The poster must be a minimum of 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall and feature a specific Protestant version of the Ten Commandments approved by the lawmakers.

In an email announcing their intent to sue, the ACLU and other groups said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled nearly 50 years ago in Stone v. Graham that the First Amendment forbids public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

In November, a federal district judge ruled that a similar law in Louisiana impinged on students’ and parents’ rights under the  First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses. That ruling is currently on appeal in the Fifth Circuit.

“We all have the right to decide what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice,” the civil-liberties groups said in their statement. “Government officials have no business intruding on these deeply personal religious matters. SB 10 will subject students to state-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments for nearly every hour of their public education. It is religiously coercive and interferes with families’ right to direct children’s religious education.”

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This article appears in May 14-27, 2025.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.