Civil rights groups petition Supreme Court to review Texas Ten Commandments law

Texas law requires state-selected King James Bible text in classrooms

More than two dozen Texas families, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups, filed the petition on Monday asking the justices to overturn the 9-8 ruling issued in April by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The AP describes the appellate court as conservative-leaning. The court split in its decision upholding the Texas statute.

Under the law, public school classrooms must display a state-selected version of the Ten Commandments drawn from the King James Bible. The families’ attorneys argue in their Supreme Court brief that the requirement violates basic First Amendment principles governing the separation of church and state.

According to the AP, the case could set a new national standard for the limits of state-sponsored religious expression in classrooms. The dispute now moves to the Supreme Court for its consideration.