A dispute over whether schools in Texas should display the Ten Commandments has turned into a chaotic legal battle with the state’s attorney general suing to force school districts to display the commandments and a federal judge ordering other school districts to take down their displays. 

The law, S.B. 10, was signed by Governor Greg Abbott in June, shortly after a federal appeals court blocked a similar law in Louisiana. A federal judge also blocked the implementation of S.B. 10 in 11 Texas school districts. 

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hear oral arguments about whether laws in Texas and Louisiana are legal. The Supreme Court’s 1980 Stone v. Graham decision said that laws requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments violate the First Amendment and have no “secular legislative purpose.” 

In the meantime, a legal drama is playing in Texas involving whether or not school districts not enjoined by judges should display the Ten Commandments. Texas’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, has vowed to defend the law, saying that the commandments are a part of the “legal and moral heritage of our state.” He has ordered school districts that were not involved in the litigation over S.B. 10 to display the commandments as the legal challenge plays out. 

On Tuesday, Mr. Paxton sued the Round Rock and Leander school districts for refusing to display the Ten Commandments.

“These rogue ISD officials and board members blatantly disregarded the will of Texas voters who expect the legal and moral heritage of our state to be displayed in accordance with the law,” Mr. Paxton said. “Round Rock ISD and Leander ISD chose to defy a clear statutory mandate, and this lawsuit makes clear that no district may ignore Texas law without consequence.”

The same day Mr. Paxton announced his lawsuit, a federal judge, Orlando L. Garcia, ordered the Fort Worth, McKinney, Frisco, Northwest, Rockwall, and Mansfield school districts to take down their display of the Ten Commandments. 

Judge Garcia said that “displaying the Ten Commandments on the wall of a public-school classroom as set forth in S.B. 10 violates the Establishment Clause.”

“It is impractical, if not impossible, to prevent Plaintiffs from being subjected to unwelcome religious displays without enjoining Defendants from enforcing S.B. 10 across their districts,” he added.

A staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, Chloe Kempf, said in a statement, “Today’s ruling is yet another affirmation of what Texans already know: The First Amendment guarantees families and faith communities — not the government — the right to instill religious beliefs in our children.”

“Our schools are for education, not evangelization. This ruling protects thousands of Texas students from ostracization, bullying, and state-mandated religious coercion. Every school district in Texas is now on notice that implementing S.B. 10 violates their students’ constitutional rights,” she said.

Legal analysts expect that the question of whether public schools can display the Ten Commandments will wind up before the Supreme Court, and conservatives are hopeful that the justices will overturn Stone as the court’s conservative majority has overturned other landmark rulings, such as Roe v. Wade.