Federal judge orders some Tarrant schools to remove Ten Commandments displays
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered several Tarrant County school districts to remove displays of the Ten Commandments from classrooms, the latest development in a lawsuit filed in September.
That lawsuit, filed by 15 families against 14 school districts, including Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield, Northwest, and Azle, calls for schools not to comply with a new Texas state law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments.
U.S. Judge Orlando L. Garcia of the Western District of Texas in San Antonio granted a preliminary injunction blocking their display on Nov. 18, arguing that the law violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
“I am relieved that as a result of today’s ruling, my children, who are among a small number of Jewish children at their schools, will no longer be continually subjected to religious displays,” said plaintiff Lenee Bien-Willner in a written statement provided by the ACLU. “The government has no business interfering with parental decisions about matters of faith.”
The September lawsuit came a month after the same federal court temporarily blocked the new law in a separate case naming 11 school districts, including Austin, Houston and Plano.
The injunction orders school districts named in the September lawsuit to remove Ten Commandments posters by Dec. 1 and orders that no new displays can be put up.
Representatives for the Fort Worth and Northwest districts confirmed that the districts have been made aware of the injunction and that they will comply with court orders.
