NEXSTAR – American Civil Liberties Union litigate Wednesday against the Texas Law, which is asking schools to display the ten commandments, The second lawsuit It was submitted against the law in a little week.
Senate Bill 10And that was approved during the legislative session for this year, requires all public school teachers to accept and offer any donation of the ten wills with an area of 16 to 20 inches or a framed version that can be clearly read. The law is scheduled to enter on September 1, but it is expected to be linked to court – a challenge to the governor of the state, Greg Abbott, and the call of Texas the Republican Party.
In the lawsuit, prosecutors accuse the law violating the condition of establishing the first amendment to the constitution.
“By canceling the display of a copy of the ten commandments that are spent in each semester in primary and secondary schools in Texas, SB 10 illegally prefers a set of distinct religious beliefs, and these preferred and insulting religious beliefs will impose children in the public school in Texas, including the medical provinces of the dish.”
But the Republicans who supported the bill say it has nothing to do with religion, and they offer mere text of historical importance.
Texas witnessed a challenge similar to the presentation of the ten commandments in the government Capitol building in 2004, which the United States Supreme Court ruled later and did not violate the foundation clause. The court also canceled the laws that require the presentation of the ten commandments in public schools in the past, using the “Lemon test”-a three aspect test that the court used to determine whether the laws violate the establishment clause.
Lemon test had three requirements: the law should have a secular purpose, its basic effect should not be enhanced or prevented and could not create “excessive government tangle with religion.” But the court ruled that the lemon test will It is no longer used In the case of school prayer 2019, states such as Texas and Louisiana decided to try ten of the commandments.
Senator who sponsored the bill, Senator Phil King, R and Winford, said he is not surprised by the lawsuit and is expected to support any court of law.
“If you do not know the ten commandments, you do not know the basis of much of the American history and law,” King said. “We want children to understand what our history and culture formed. The few documents had a greater impact on Western civilization than the Ten Commandments.”
Al -Senator added that he is very confident that the state would prevail in the lawsuit.
Eric McDaniel, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said now that the lemon test has been abandoned, and the countries are trying to change the way the Supreme Court resides religion.
“This is an attempt to try to redefine the Supreme Court the way we think about the semester of the church and the state,” said McDaneliel. “I have now seen this movement from several states to see if we can already put religion in schools.”
Like SB 10, the Louisiana 71 bill aims to put the ten commandments in schools, but it was removed by the Court of Appeal in the Fifth Circuit in June after the US Civil Liberties Union is prosecuted. While the Fifth Circuit Court is usually conservative, two of the three judges who heard the case were appointed by Democratic Presidents.
The Court of Appeal referred to a 1980 case the Supreme Court Which struck a similar law in Kentucky. Now, the US Civil Liberties Union brings a challenge in Texas.
Supporters of the draft law emphasize that the ten commandments must be offered for purely historical reasons. Republicans say that the teachings of the commandments, including instructions not to lie, cheat or theft, are good values that everyone must agree on.
Senator King said in a ground speech that children need to teach values in the commandments.
“Every child needs to walk every day during school and wi on the wall that it is wrong to kill, it is wrong to steal, you are supposed to respect and honor your parents,” King said. “It is part of our traditions and we must be part of our educational system.”
The intention and constitutionality of the law will be up to the courts to make a decision. Louisiana Les Morel’s public attorney said that she intends to struggle for the law of her mandate to the Supreme Court.
McDanel said that he considers if the American Civil Liberties Union or Texas had taken the law to the Supreme Court, the state may find success, even if the court limits the impact of the law.
“It is possible that the Supreme Court is likely to defy it,” McDanil said. “[The state has] The Supreme Court is open to some of its goals, but I do not know whether it will be open to allow religious documents everywhere. “
However, McDainel said that at the end of the day, a country that promotes one religion may have an unintended impact.
“When nations begin to participate in religion, or start supporting a specific religion, all sudden religion begins to lose its importance, because it is no longer seen as something separate from the state, but just as part of the state.”