News Release
For Immediate Release: 12.2.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Members of Congress Urge Federal Court to Allow Ten Commandments Displays in Public Schools
First Liberty Institute filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief on behalf of lawmakers after federal judges blocked Texas and Louisiana laws.
New Orleans, LA—Yesterday First Liberty Institute and Heather Gebelin Hacker of Hacker Stephens LLP filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief on behalf of 46 members of Congress including Senator Ted Cruz, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, and Congressman Chip Roy at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit supporting the display of Ten Commandments in public schools. Federal district court judges partially enjoined state laws in Texas and Louisiana that require posting a display of the Ten Commandments in all public schools in those states.
You can read the brief here.
“First Liberty’s recent Supreme Court victories in The American Legion v. American Humanist Association and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District make clear that displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools is constitutional,” said Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel for First Liberty. “Our religious heritage and the best of the nation’s history and traditions acknowledge the Ten Commandments as an important symbol of law and moral conduct with both religious and secular significance. Government hostility to religion and our religious history is not the law.”
In response to First Liberty’s Supreme Court victories in The American Legion v. American Humanist Association and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, several states adopted laws requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in schools. In 2024, Louisiana adopted HB 71, which requires the posting of the Ten Commandments in schools and colleges that receive public funding. That law was partially struck down earlier this year. Texas passed SB 10 in May, requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in school classrooms. A federal judge in San Antonio issued an injunction against the implementation of the bill in select school districts. The cases were consolidated and will be heard by the full panel of judges at the Fifth Circuit later this month.
In the brief, Heather Hacker writes, “As Justice Gorsuch warned in American Legion, if individuals “could invoke the authority of a federal court to forbid what they dislike for no more reason than they dislike it . . . Courts would start to look more like legislatures, responding to social pressures rather than remedying concrete harms, in the process supplanting the right of the people and their elected representatives to govern them-selves.” If mere “offense” suffices for standing to challenge a law, any number of legitimate legislative actions could be held up for years in litigation, which is obviously of concern to Amici.”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact John Manning at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
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