Ten Commandments school displays

Civil rights advocates have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Texas law requiring the state's public schools to display the Ten Commandments. Monday's petition tees up a case that could set a new national standard for the limits of religious expression in classrooms. Posters with the Ten Commandments began going up almost a year ago in classrooms across Texas, a state that educates about 5.5 million students. An appeals court earlier this year cleared the way for the Texas law and one in Louisiana, and similar laws have been passed in Arkansas and Alabama.

The Republican-majority State Board of Education is scheduled to vote this week on adopting curriculum changes statewide. Critics say the new social studies lessons and reading lists over-emphasize Christianity.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state can enforce its 2025 law requiring public schools to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments.

Patrick spoke as chair of President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission, which is planning to make federal policy recommendations in May.

School boards had until March 1 to decide whether to establish a daily period for students and staff to pray or read religious texts.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments in lawsuits seeking to block Texas and Louisiana from requiring classroom displays of the Ten Commandments.

Similar lawsuits in Texas and Louisiana have moved to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and will be heard in January.

The lawsuit says the law requiring public classrooms to display the Ten Commandments "unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, reverence, and adoption of the state's mandated religious scripture."

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10, even though a similar Louisiana law was deemed unconstitutional. Supporters say Christianity is core to U.S. history.

Senate Bill 10 now goes back to the Senate for concurrence before advancing to Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign it into law.