Texas 10 Commandments School Law Upheld, Setting Stage For Supreme Court…##

defended the decision, saying “the Ten Commandments are a foundational moral, literary, and historical text whose influence on Western legal traditions is widely acknowledged and needs to be part of any complete education.”

The vote was narrow, decided 9-8 among the judges on the panel. Hacker argued that displaying the text serves an educational purpose distinct from promoting religion.

The Opposition

Civil liberties groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation challenged the law on First Amendment grounds. Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, criticized the decision, stating “it is shocking that an appeals court would presume to do what only the Supreme Court itself can do and overturn long-standing precedent.”