Texas to defend law requiring Ten Commandments in classrooms [View all]

Source: NBC News

Jan. 20, 2026, 3:09 PM EST


Arguments in the latest battle over the separation of church and state will be heard Tuesday in a Louisiana federal courtroom where a law requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed at public schools is being challenged on constitutional grounds. And in a highly unusual development, all 17 active judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans will be present to hear the Texas case, as well as a similar lawsuit filed by parents and civil liberties groups in Louisiana against that state's Ten Commandments law.

"These issues concern core questions involving the interaction of public education with this nation’s religious history and traditions," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued in a petition in October requesting an en banc review, which is a legal proceeding where all the judges of an appellate court preside over a case. "They warrant en banc review."

Not mentioned in Paxton's petition is the fact that the 5th Circuit, which serves Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, is dominated by conservatives. The 12 judges nominated by Republican presidents outnumber the five Democratic appointees.

“The Fifth Circuit doesn’t take up very many cases en banc at all, and the issues presented in this case seem very straightforward to me,” Dane Ciolino, a professor at the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, told New Orleans radio station WWL. “There is a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that made very clear that states cannot mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms and buildings."

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-defend-law-requiring-ten-commandments-classrooms-rcna254977