The Ten Commandments Are Back—Will the Supreme Court Let Them Stay?
A growing legal battle over the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms is moving closer to the U.S. Supreme Court, potentially setting up a major showdown over religious liberty, American history, and the meaning of the First Amendment.
More than two dozen Texas families have asked the Supreme Court to review a state law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The challenge comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowed Texas Senate Bill 10 to remain in effect, reversing a lower-court ruling that had blocked the requirement. The Supreme Court has been asked to hear the dispute but has not yet ruled on whether it will take the case.
If the justices agree to hear the case, the outcome could reach far beyond Texas. Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama have pursued similar Ten Commandments requirements, while additional states have considered legislation involving religious and historical displays in public schools. Courts have already reached differing conclusions in related cases, increasing the likelihood that the issue will eventually require clarification from the nation’s highest court.
What the Texas Law Requires
Texas Senate Bill 10 requires public elementary and secondary schools to display a copy of the Ten Commandments in classrooms under conditions specified by state law. The measure was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and took effect in September 2025. Supporters argue that the Ten Commandments played an important role in the development of Western legal and moral thought and therefore belong within the broader historical conversation presented to students. Opponents argue that requiring their display places the state behind a specifically religious message.
That disagreement has now produced a constitutional confrontation over the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits government from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
A 1980 Supreme Court Decision Looms Large
The most obvious obstacle facing supporters of the Texas law is Stone v. Graham, a 1980 Supreme Court decision involving a Kentucky statute that required the Ten Commandments to be posted in public-school classrooms.
In that case, the Court concluded that the Kentucky requirement violated the Establishment Clause. The majority determined that the classroom-posting requirement lacked a sufficient secular legislative purpose and emphasized that the Ten Commandments are undeniably a sacred text containing commands dealing directly with worship and religious obligations.
Opponents of the Texas law argue that Stone should therefore control the present dispute.
Supporters counter that Establishment Clause jurisprudence has changed significantly since 1980. In recent years, the Supreme Court has moved away from the older Lemon framework that played a major role in church-state litigation and has placed greater emphasis on history, tradition, and the original understanding of the First Amendment.
That shift creates the central legal question: Does Stone v. Graham still categorically prevent states from requiring Ten Commandments displays in public-school classrooms, or should the issue now be reconsidered under the Supreme Court’s newer approach to religious-expression cases?
Supporters See History and Moral Foundations
Supporters of Ten Commandments displays contend that removing biblical references from public institutions often presents an incomplete picture of American history.
Biblical concepts influenced generations of American political thinkers, ministers, judges, educators, and citizens. References to God, providence, moral accountability, and biblical law are found throughout the nation’s historical record.
Supporters therefore argue that acknowledging the Ten Commandments does not automatically amount to establishing a state religion.
The Supreme Court itself contains visual representations connected to Moses and the Ten Commandments within the broader presentation of historic lawgivers. Context, however, has long mattered in constitutional analysis: a historical display involving numerous legal traditions is not legally identical to a state requirement that a religious text be permanently displayed in every public-school classroom.
That distinction is likely to receive considerable attention if the Texas dispute reaches full Supreme Court review.
Opponents Say Government Cannot Choose Religious Doctrine
The families challenging the law include individuals from different religious backgrounds as well as nonreligious households. Their attorneys argue that parents—not the government—should determine what religious instruction their children receive.
They contend that a state-mandated classroom display places students in daily contact with a particular religious text and therefore crosses the constitutional boundary separating government authority from religious instruction. The challengers specifically point to Stone v. Graham and argue that the Texas requirement closely resembles the Kentucky law struck down more than four decades ago.
This is an important distinction for Christians to understand. A Christian may strongly believe that the Ten Commandments are God’s revealed truth while recognizing that the constitutional question is separate: What religious expression may a government require inside a compulsory public-school setting?
The Biblical Question Is Much Clearer
Whatever the Supreme Court eventually decides about government displays, Scripture leaves no ambiguity about the value of God’s moral law.
The Ten Commandments reveal God’s holiness and establish moral truths concerning worship, idolatry, honoring parents, murder, adultery, theft, dishonesty, and covetousness.
Psalm 19:7 declares:
“The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple.”
God’s law also exposes humanity’s inability to achieve righteousness through human effort. The Apostle Paul explains that the law brings knowledge of sin and ultimately points sinners toward their need for Jesus Christ.
Christians therefore do not look to the Ten Commandments as a means of earning salvation.
Salvation comes by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ.
But grace does not make God’s moral character irrelevant.
Those who have been redeemed by Christ should desire to live lives characterized by holiness, truthfulness, faithfulness, love for God, and love for neighbor.
America Is Debating More Than a Classroom Poster
The controversy ultimately reveals a much larger cultural debate.
What moral framework should shape future generations?
Can public institutions acknowledge America’s religious heritage without establishing religion?
Where is the constitutional line between teaching history and promoting faith?
And perhaps most importantly for Christian families: Who bears the primary responsibility for teaching children the truth about God?
The biblical answer to that final question is clear.
Parents cannot outsource discipleship to public schools.
Deuteronomy 6 commands God’s people to teach His words diligently to their children—in the ordinary rhythms of home and daily life.
Whether the Ten Commandments hang on a classroom wall or not, Christian parents remain responsible to place God’s Word before their children consistently.
A Case Worth Watching
The Supreme Court has not yet agreed to decide the Texas dispute, so predictions about the final outcome are premature. But the petition places another major religious-expression controversy before a Court that has significantly reshaped First Amendment doctrine in recent years.
If the justices take the case, the decision could determine not only the future of Texas Senate Bill 10 but also the viability of similar laws around the country.
For Christians, the legal battle deserves attention—but it should also serve as a reminder.
Courts can decide whether the Ten Commandments may be displayed by government institutions.
They cannot determine whether God’s Word remains true.
Cultures change.
Political movements rise and fall.
Supreme Court doctrines evolve.
But Scripture declares:
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”
— Isaiah 40:8
Whatever happens in Washington, Christian families and churches still have the same assignment:
Know God’s Word.
Teach God’s Word.
Live God’s Word.
And faithfully point the next generation toward Jesus Christ.
