A state district judge on October 1, 2026, ordered Galveston Independent School District to display donated Ten Commandments posters in its classrooms within 10 days. The order enforces Senate Bill 10, the state’s 2025 classroom-display law. The district said it would comply with the ruling.
The law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 20, 2025, requires every public elementary and secondary classroom to display a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments in a conspicuous place. The enrolled statute specifies a minimum width of 16 inches and height of 20 inches. Schools must accept privately donated posters that meet the law’s requirements but are not required to purchase posters with district funds.
How the Galveston case reached state court
Galveston’s trustees voted 4-3 in October 2025 to postpone the displays, and Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the district the following month. The board then voted 5-2 on September 23, 2026, to continue defending the lawsuit, according to The Daily News. The court order came after those decisions.
The Daily News reported that U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown sent the Galveston case back to state court on July 10, 2026. The order to display the posters was issued by Judge Jeth Jones of the 122nd District Court. The litigation concerns the district’s compliance with the law; the broader constitutional challenge follows a separate federal-court path.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton donated the posters involved in the Galveston order. Board President Anthony Brown said the donated supply would not cover every classroom, according to the Houston Chronicle. The distinction between accepting donated displays and purchasing additional ones matters because SB 10 makes acceptance of compliant donations mandatory while leaving purchases optional.
A federal ruling and a pending Supreme Court petition
On April 21, 2026, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled 9-8 in Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD, reversing the lower court’s injunction against SB 10. The majority rejected the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause challenges. The dissent argued that the law conflicts with Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court’s 1980 decision striking down a Kentucky classroom Ten Commandments requirement.
Texas families filed a joint Supreme Court petition in August 2026 in Nathan and the companion case Cribbs Ringer v. Comal ISD. The petition asks the justices to review the Fifth Circuit’s decisions and argues that Stone remains binding precedent. It also raises a Free Exercise challenge based on Mahmoud v. Taylor, a 2025 Supreme Court decision concerning religious objections to public-school instruction.
The petition describes families from Baha’i, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist and nonreligious backgrounds. Their objections include differences between their own religious beliefs and the King James Version wording specified in the Texas law. Those are the petitioners’ claims, rather than findings that the Supreme Court has accepted.
The Galveston compliance order therefore proceeds while the families seek Supreme Court review of the statewide requirement. A petition requesting review does not itself reverse the Fifth Circuit ruling or decide the constitutional questions. For Galveston, the immediate requirement is the state court’s deadline to display the donated posters.