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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSplit Fifth Circuit OKs Texas Ten Commandments in Classroom Law
This en banc decision is shocking and wrong. This was a 9 to 8 decision with the nine GOP appointed assholes ignoring the First Amendment. I am afraid that SCOTUS will NOT take up this case
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https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/split-fifth-circuit-oks-texas-ten-commandments-in-classroom-law
Texas can enforce a law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in public classrooms, a divided Fifth Circuit ruled.
The full US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday sided with the state, after ruling in February that it was too early to weigh challenges to a similar Louisiana measure.
We conclude the Texas law does not violate either the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause, Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote for a nine-judge majority, all consisting of Republican appointees. Eight judges dissented from the ruling.
A three-judge panel earlier found the Louisiana law was unconstitutional, as it violated the First Amendments Establishment Clause. But the majority of the Fifth Circuits 17 active judgeswhich includes six Trump appointeesvoted in favor of rehearing the case, and heard arguments in that case and over the Texas law in January.
An attorney for the laws challengers, Jonathan Youngwood, told the court that Supreme Court precedent set in a challenge to a similar state law still applies and forecloses this case. But some of the conservative judges said the high court had set aside the Establishment Clause test used then, and questioned if the Supreme Court ruling was still good law.
The full US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday sided with the state, after ruling in February that it was too early to weigh challenges to a similar Louisiana measure.
We conclude the Texas law does not violate either the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause, Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote for a nine-judge majority, all consisting of Republican appointees. Eight judges dissented from the ruling.
A three-judge panel earlier found the Louisiana law was unconstitutional, as it violated the First Amendments Establishment Clause. But the majority of the Fifth Circuits 17 active judgeswhich includes six Trump appointeesvoted in favor of rehearing the case, and heard arguments in that case and over the Texas law in January.
An attorney for the laws challengers, Jonathan Youngwood, told the court that Supreme Court precedent set in a challenge to a similar state law still applies and forecloses this case. But some of the conservative judges said the high court had set aside the Establishment Clause test used then, and questioned if the Supreme Court ruling was still good law.
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Split Fifth Circuit OKs Texas Ten Commandments in Classroom Law (Original Post)
LetMyPeopleVote
Tuesday
OP
MaddowBlog-Conservative appeals court backs Ten Commandments in classrooms, ignoring precedent
LetMyPeopleVote
10 hrs ago
#4
SamKnause
(14,931 posts)1. Fuck them and fuck theocracy.
Keep your magical beliefs to yourself.
Not all of us are interested in your evil religion, your evil book, or your evil god.
Before any laws are passed proof should be required that any of this nonsense is true.
dalton99a
(94,792 posts)2. Kick

In It to Win It
(12,673 posts)3. kick 🙄😒
LetMyPeopleVote
(180,805 posts)4. MaddowBlog-Conservative appeals court backs Ten Commandments in classrooms, ignoring precedent
Politicians have repeatedly lost in court when trying to impose religious texts on children. The nations most far-right appeals court apparently didnt care.
Link to tweet
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/conservative-appeals-court-backs-ten-commandments-in-classrooms-ignoring-precedent
Around the same time, the GOPs crusade advanced undeterred in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott signed a measure that required every public school classroom in the state to display the Ten Commandments. The law mandated that the religious display had to be in a conspicuous location, with text that could be seen from anywhere in the room.
Five months later, the law was partially blocked by a federal district court. This week, proponents of government-sponsored religion fared far better with a federal appeals court. The New York Times reported:
The Fifth Circuit is known as the nations most far-right appeals court, and it solidified its reputation in this case: The Republican-appointed judges majority ruling suggested the First Amendment was really only designed to prevent official recognition of the Church of England, which is ahistorical nonsense contradicted by everything we know about American history, the Constitution and its formation.....
The legal dimension to this is every bit as jarring. Indeed, when officials in Kentucky approved a similar law nearly a half-century ago, the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that Ten Commandments displays in public schools were unconstitutional.
The Decalogue, the justices ruled in Stone v. Graham, is undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths and displaying them serves no educational function.
So why did Texas Republicans take a step the Supreme Court has already rejected? Probably because theyre confident the newly politicized high court and its dominant far-right majority will simply overturn the Stone precedent, doing fresh harm to the wall thats supposed to separate church and state in this country.
Well likely find out soon whether their assumption is correct. Watch this space.
Five months later, the law was partially blocked by a federal district court. This week, proponents of government-sponsored religion fared far better with a federal appeals court. The New York Times reported:
A federal appeals court on Tuesday narrowly upheld a Texas law that requires public schools to display posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
By 9-to-8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the law does not violate the separation of church and state, reversing two lower court decisions. The court also ruled the measure does not restrict parents right to direct their childrens religious upbringing.
The Fifth Circuit is known as the nations most far-right appeals court, and it solidified its reputation in this case: The Republican-appointed judges majority ruling suggested the First Amendment was really only designed to prevent official recognition of the Church of England, which is ahistorical nonsense contradicted by everything we know about American history, the Constitution and its formation.....
The legal dimension to this is every bit as jarring. Indeed, when officials in Kentucky approved a similar law nearly a half-century ago, the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that Ten Commandments displays in public schools were unconstitutional.
The Decalogue, the justices ruled in Stone v. Graham, is undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths and displaying them serves no educational function.
So why did Texas Republicans take a step the Supreme Court has already rejected? Probably because theyre confident the newly politicized high court and its dominant far-right majority will simply overturn the Stone precedent, doing fresh harm to the wall thats supposed to separate church and state in this country.
Well likely find out soon whether their assumption is correct. Watch this space.