Judge Denies Temporary Hold on Ten Commandments in Texas Classrooms
A Harris County judge denied a request from three Houston-area mothers on August 7 for a temporary restraining order to stop public schools from displaying Ten Commandments posters, which Texas's Senate Bill 10 requires in every classroom. The mothers, Emily Roth, Dr. Audrey Rosa Nath, and Sanjam Kaur Sohal, sued the state, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and three Houston-area school districts in July, arguing the mandate violates the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the state's newly approved Proposition 15 parental rights amendment. One plaintiff said the posters teach students "that exclusion is acceptable, maybe even preferred."
A hearing on a longer-term injunction was set for August 17, and the underlying lawsuit continues regardless of that outcome. It is the first case to argue the Ten Commandments mandate violates Texas's own state-level religious freedom protections, separate from federal challenges already working through courts in Louisiana and elsewhere.
