Texas Mothers Challenge Ten Commandments Law, Arguing It Violates State’s Parental Rights Amendment

A group of mothers is challenging a Texas law requiring that public schools display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, arguing that it violates the state’s parental rights amendment. Last year, lawmakers in Texas passed Senate Bill 10, which requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Opponents of the law have so far unsuccessfully made the case in court that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause. In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld Senate Bill 10. The court said students are not “taught to adopt” the commandments and teachers are not “commanded to proselytize students” who disagree with them. A group of three mothers of various faiths have now filed a lawsuit in Harris County challenging the law, saying that it violates the 1999 Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which states that a “a government agency may not substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion.” The plaintiffs also argue the display violates a parental rights amendment to the state constitution — Texas Proposition 15, approved by voters in 2025 — which affirms that parents have primary authority to “exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing.”One of the plaintiffs, Emily Roth, says she is raising her children without religion. Another mother, Audrey Rosa Nath, says she is raising her children in multiple faith traditions. And Sanjam Kaur Sohal, says her family is Sikh. In a press release, Ms. Roth says the Ten Commandments bill “teaches students, and their teachers, that exclusion is acceptable, maybe even preferred.”“That is not a lesson I want my children learning from the state of Texas,” Ms. Roth said. The lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Megan Hassan, said in a statement that the mothers want their children to “attend school without being compelled to display a message that conflicts with their faith.”“They wanted a poster removed from a classroom wall. That should never have required a lawsuit,” Ms. Hassan saidLawmakers in Texas say the Ten Commandments should be in schools because of their part in American history. Texas’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, has defended the law while insisting “America is a Christian nation” and it is “imperative that we display the very values and timeless truths that have historically guided the success of our country.”A conservative advocacy organization that advocated for Senate Bill 10, Texas Values, accused the plaintiffs of trying to “erase history” from classrooms.The director of policy for Texas Values, Jonathan Covey, said in a statement, “This lawsuit seeks to tear down and erase one of the most significant influences on the development of Western law and American government from Texas classrooms.”A hearing on the petition has not yet been scheduled in the state district court.

Texas Mothers Challenge Ten Commandments Law, Arguing It Violates State’s Parental Rights Amendment

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