A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Texas bill requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, the latest in a string of setbacks for red states seeking to introduce the religious text into schools.
Judge Fred Biery wrote in an order granting a preliminary injunction that the Republican-led legislature could not demonstrate a tradition of public schools posting the Ten Commandments, which he said was needed for the bill to withstand court precedents.
"This Court finds there is insufficient evidence of a broad tradition in place at the time of the Founding, and within the history of public education, to justify S.B. 10," Biery wrote.
Biery, a Clinton appointee, also said the legislation was not neutral enough on religion to be constitutional. The bill "impermissibly takes sides on theological questions and officially favors Christian den...