Civil rights groups filed a petition Tuesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the Texas law requiring Ten Commandments posters in every public school classroom. The case directly touches Katy ISD, Lamar CISD and Fort Bend ISD families whose children returned to school Aug. 11-12.

The ACLU and allied organizations filed the joint petition on behalf of more than two dozen Texas families of diverse faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Baha'ism, Unitarian Universalism and nonreligious traditions. Fort Bend ISD is named as a respondent in the case, Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD.

The petition asks the justices to reverse the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the law 9-8 on Tuesday, April 21. That ruling reversed lower federal court orders that had blocked several districts, including Fort Bend ISD, from displaying the posters.

What the law requires

Senate Bill 10, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 20, 2025, requires every Texas public school classroom to display a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments, drawn from the King James Bible, in a conspicuous place. The poster must be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall, in a typeface legible from anywhere in the room. Districts must hang the posters only if they are donated, and conservative groups began delivering them to campuses statewide when the law took effect in September 2025.

Katy ISD welcomed approximately 94,000 students back on Wednesday, Aug. 12. Lamar CISD and Fort Bend ISD both started Tuesday, Aug. 11.

The petition presents two constitutional questions: whether the Establishment Clause forbids a state from mandating a permanent, conspicuous display of a government-selected version of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, and whether the displays interfere with parents' Free Exercise Clause right to direct their children's religious education.

Petitioners argue the 5th Circuit's ruling conflicts with Stone v. Graham, a 1980 Supreme Court decision that struck down a nearly identical Kentucky law as a violation of the Establishment Clause.

"As a rabbi and parent, forcing a Christian version of the Ten Commandments on children in every classroom is particularly upsetting," said Joshua Fixler, a Houston-area rabbi and one of the named petitioners, according to The Hill.

ACLU attorney Heather Weaver said the case carries national weight because several states have passed or considered similar laws in recent years, including Arkansas and Alabama.

The Texas Attorney General's office did not immediately comment on the petition, according to Houston Public Media.

What happens next

The Supreme Court is expected to consider the petition at a closed-door conference after its next term begins in the fall. The court declines most petitions. A second related petition, in Cribbs Ringer v. Comal ISD, is due Aug. 27.