3 mothers sue to block Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in public schools

The lessons Audrey Nath and Emily Roth are teaching their young children don’t include 10 religious laws that are taught in the Bible.

“My kids are young and they don’t have the concept of murder … and adultery and servitude,” Emily Roth told CBS News. 

The Texas Legislature p***ed Senate Bill 10 last year, which requires all public school cl***rooms to display the Ten Commandments. One of several federal lawsuits challenging SB-10 failed in April when the law was upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. That case, however, could still be appealed to the Supreme Court. 

Nath, Roth and a third Houston area mother, Sanjam Sohal, filed a state lawsuit last week in Harris County District Court alleging SB-10 violates the 1999 Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which states that “a government agency may not substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion.”

The lawsuit also argues the law violates the Parental Rights constitutional amendment, which was championed by conservatives and p***ed by Texas voters in November 2025.

That amendment states that parents have the “fundamental right to exercise care, custody, and control” of their children, “including the right to make decisions concerning the child ‘s upbringing.”

“This is presenting the beliefs of one religion as rules on the wall,” Nath said of SB-10. “And I think that implies that any kids that believe something different aren’t following the right thing at school.”

Added Roth: “There can be a place for religion in school, if it’s being taught in an historical context with other religions … I feel like if the state of Texas is going to let Christian nationalists dictate what goes on our kids’ walls, they’re going to hear from Texas moms.”

Supporters of the law, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, argue that Biblical texts are an important part of the country’s heritage and history and should be taught.

“Parental rights are fundamental, but they’re not a license for one family to rewrite that for every child in Texas and what they learn in public schools,” said Jonathan Covey, director of policy for the nonprofit Christian advocacy group Texas Values, one of the organizations that supplies schools with posters of the Ten Commandments. 

Texas is one of four states that currently require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools, along with Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas. Nearly a dozen other states are considering similar legislation, including West Virginia, Oklahoma, Utah, Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia, Montana, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Indiana. 

Roth said she sees this legislation as opening a door to more religious instruction in schools.

“I feel like the door is wide open,” Roth said. “I feel like Texas is being a test case right now, and I don’t want my kids to be the guinea pigs.”

CBS News has reached out to the Texas Office of the Attorney General and the Texas Education Agency for comment on the lawsuit. Both Paxton and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath are named in the lawsuit. 

When children in Texas return to school next week, some cl***rooms still won’t be displaying the Ten Commandments, however. The Arlington Independent School District said in a statement provided to CBS News that it is waiting for the federal court system to resolve a separate federal lawsuit that was filed against the law back in September by a group of 15 families.

Attorneys for those families told CBS News they plan to petition the Supreme Court in the next few weeks.  

“District leadership maintains that federal courts must ultimately resolve the conflict between state law and federal precedent surrounding S.B. 10,” the Arlington ISD said in a statement. “While Arlington ISD has received donated copies of the Ten Commandments, schools remain legally prohibited from displaying them while the litigation remains pending in any form.”