The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled 9-8 that Texas can require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Somewhere in an ACLU office right now, a lawyer is hyperventilating into a reusable tote bag. Someone get that person a paper sack and a copy of the Bill of Rights — the actual one, not the fan fiction version they’ve been working off of.
Here’s what happened. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed SB 10 back in 2025, requiring every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments — framed or on a poster, at least 16 by 20 inches, somewhere students can actually see them. Schools don’t even have to buy the displays. They just have to accept donated ones. The horror!
Two federal judges in Houston and Austin blocked the law across 24 school districts before it could take effect. They said it “likely violated” the First Amendment. Because apparently “Thou shalt not steal” and “Honor thy father and mother” are just too radical for the American public school system.
But the 5th Circuit wasn’t having it. Nine judges looked at this law and pointed out something that should be blindingly obvious to anyone who passed a high school civics class: the law “does not tell churches or synagogues or mosques what to believe or how to worship.” It “punishes no one who rejects the Ten Commandments.” Students aren’t being quizzed on them. They’re not reciting them. Nobody’s being baptized at the water fountain between second and third period.
They’re posters. On a wall. Next to the fire escape map and that faded anti-bullying banner from 2014.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — who has become a one-man wrecking ball against the secular left — called it “a major victory for Texas and our moral values.” He pointed out that the Ten Commandments have had a “profound impact on our nation.” Which is historically accurate and shouldn’t be controversial, but we live in a country where stating obvious facts makes people lose their minds.
And right on cue, the ACLU released a statement claiming the decision “tramples” the First Amendment and violates “the separation of church and state.” Quick pop quiz for the ACLU lawyers: where does the phrase “separation of church and state” appear in the Constitution?
(Trick question. It doesn’t. It was in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote. But why would the ACLU let a little thing like “not being in the Constitution” stop them from pretending it’s a constitutional mandate?)
We need to be honest about what this fight has always been about. The same people screaming about the Ten Commandments on a classroom wall are perfectly fine with schools hosting drag queen story hours, teaching kindergartners about gender identity, and hanging pride flags in every hallway from September to June. Apparently the only moral framework that’s not allowed in a school is the one that says “don’t murder people” and “don’t lie.”
Think about that for a second. A poster that says “Thou shalt not bear false witness” is considered a constitutional crisis. But a poster that says “Ask me about my pronouns” — that’s just good education.
The best part? This thing is probably headed to the Supreme Court. And with the current court, the ACLU knows exactly how that’s going to go. They’re filing briefs like a boxer who’s already been knocked out twice but keeps getting up because his corner won’t throw the towel.
We’ve spent decades watching the secular left strip every trace of faith out of public life — no nativity scenes, no prayer at football games, no Ten Commandments anywhere a child might accidentally read “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods” and develop a moral compass. That era is ending.
The Ten Commandments are going back on the wall. The ACLU can pound sand. And Texas, as usual, is leading the way.
God bless the Lone Star State.
