Latest news with #5thCircuitCourt
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Court rejects Texas Republicans' law requiring Ten Commandments displays in schools
For Republican officials eager to impose the Ten Commandments on public school students, it's been a difficult summer. In June, for example, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a Louisiana law from taking effect, unanimously ruling that the state-sponsored-religion law was 'facially unconstitutional.' In early August, a federal judge similarly issued a preliminary injunction against an Arkansas law on Ten Commandments displays in schools. Now, Texas has joined the club. The Associated Press reported: Texas cannot require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, a judge said Wednesday in a temporary ruling against the state's new requirement, making it the third such state law to be blocked by a court. A group of Dallas-area families and faith leaders sought a preliminary injunction against the law, which goes into effect on Sept. 1. The ruling was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery, who wrote: 'Even though the Ten Commandments would not be affirmatively taught, the captive audience of students likely would have questions, which teachers would feel compelled to answer. That is what they do.' His 55-page ruling began with quoting the First Amendment and ended with 'Amen.' Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which helped bring the case, said in a statement: 'Today's decision will ensure that Texas families — not politicians or public-school officials — get to decide how and when their children engage with religion. It sends a third strong and resounding message across the country that the government respects the religious freedom of every student in our public schools.' For those just joining us, it's worth appreciating why policies like these are legal, political and theological messes. For example, Protestants, Jews and Catholics each honor the Commandments, but the different faith traditions number and word the Decalogue in different ways. It's not the job of politicians in state government to choose which version, if any, deserves an official endorsement to be imposed on public school children. The legal dimension to this is every bit as jarring. Indeed, as regular readers might recall, when officials in Kentucky approved a very 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 would Republicans in several states take a step that the Supreme Court has already rejected? It's probably because they're confident that the newly politicized high court and its dominant far-right majority will simply overturn the Stone precedent, doing fresh harm to the wall that's supposed to separate church and state in this country. These GOP officials are almost certainly aware of the First Amendment, just as they're almost certainly aware of the Supreme Court precedent that says they cannot legally do what they're trying to do. But since the high court has moved sharply to the right over the course of the last 45 years, GOP officials in Texas and others are counting on Republican-appointed justices to clear the way for more government-imposed religion in public schools. Watch this space. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Federal appeals court sides with Texas students fighting campus drag show ban
Education policy Student lifeFacebookTweetLink Follow Officials at a Texas university cannot block a student-led LGBTQ+ organization from hosting drag shows on campus, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The 2-1 ruling from the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals is a major victory for the group, Spectrum WT, which has been in a long-running legal battle with West Texas A&M University officials after the school's president banned the organization from putting on drag shows on campus. The 5th Circuit's ruling will allow Spectrum WT to proceed with hosting drag performances while its legal challenge plays out. The Canyon, Texas, school gained national attention in March 2023 after its president, Walter Wendler, declined Spectrum WT's request to host a drag event that month at a venue on campus. Wendler said in a campus-wide email that such performances do not 'preserve a single thread of human dignity,' compared them to blackface and argued that they 'stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others.' That categorical ban, the 5th Circuit said, likely violated the First Amendment rights of the student group. 'Because theatrical performances plainly involve expressive conduct within the protection of the First Amendment, and because we find the plaintiffs' drag show is protected expression, discrimination among such shows must pass strict scrutiny,' appeals court Judge Leslie Southwick wrote in the majority opinion. 'Based on the record before us, the district court erred in concluding that the plaintiffs were not substantially likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claim.' Southwick, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, was joined by Judge James Dennis, who was appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton. Conservatives have said the performances – which often feature men dressing as women in exaggerated makeup while singing or entertaining a crowd, though some shows feature bawdier content – expose children to sexual themes and imagery that are inappropriate. When US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled against Spectrum WT in September 2023, he focused in part on the possibility that children could see the performance. 'When children are involved,' Kacsmaryk, a noted conservative whose courthouse is in Amarillo, Texas, wrote at the time, 'the calculation changes.' The case simmered as Republican state lawmakers around the country pushed anti-drag laws and other measures targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community. It rose to new heights in March 2024 when Spectrum WT sought the Supreme Court's intervention. But the high court – without providing an explanation – declined to step in to allow the group to host a show on campus that month. Judges James Ho, an appointee of President Donald Trump, dissented from the 5th Circuit's decision Monday in a lengthy opinion that was rife with culture war commentary. 'If university officials allow men to act as women in campus events like drag shows, they may feel compelled to allow men to act as women in other campus events as well — like women's sports,' Ho wrote. Echoing the blackface arguments pushed by Wendler, the judge wrote that the 'drag shows violate the university's fundamental mission to ensure a welcoming educational environment for all.' Attorneys for Spectrum WT, meanwhile, said the court's ruling 'is a victory not just for Spectrum WT, but for any public university students at risk of being silenced by campus censors.' CNN has reached out to attorneys for Wendler and the other school officials involved in the lawsuit for comment.
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Federal appeals court sides with Texas students fighting campus drag show ban
Education policy Student lifeFacebookTweetLink Follow Officials at a Texas university cannot block a student-led LGBTQ+ organization from hosting drag shows on campus, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The 2-1 ruling from the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals is a major victory for the group, Spectrum WT, which has been in a long-running legal battle with West Texas A&M University officials after the school's president banned the organization from putting on drag shows on campus. The 5th Circuit's ruling will allow Spectrum WT to proceed with hosting drag performances while its legal challenge plays out. The Canyon, Texas, school gained national attention in March 2023 after its president, Walter Wendler, declined Spectrum WT's request to host a drag event that month at a venue on campus. Wendler said in a campus-wide email that such performances do not 'preserve a single thread of human dignity,' compared them to blackface and argued that they 'stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others.' That categorical ban, the 5th Circuit said, likely violated the First Amendment rights of the student group. 'Because theatrical performances plainly involve expressive conduct within the protection of the First Amendment, and because we find the plaintiffs' drag show is protected expression, discrimination among such shows must pass strict scrutiny,' appeals court Judge Leslie Southwick wrote in the majority opinion. 'Based on the record before us, the district court erred in concluding that the plaintiffs were not substantially likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claim.' Southwick, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, was joined by Judge James Dennis, who was appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton. Conservatives have said the performances – which often feature men dressing as women in exaggerated makeup while singing or entertaining a crowd, though some shows feature bawdier content – expose children to sexual themes and imagery that are inappropriate. When US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled against Spectrum WT in September 2023, he focused in part on the possibility that children could see the performance. 'When children are involved,' Kacsmaryk, a noted conservative whose courthouse is in Amarillo, Texas, wrote at the time, 'the calculation changes.' The case simmered as Republican state lawmakers around the country pushed anti-drag laws and other measures targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community. It rose to new heights in March 2024 when Spectrum WT sought the Supreme Court's intervention. But the high court – without providing an explanation – declined to step in to allow the group to host a show on campus that month. Judges James Ho, an appointee of President Donald Trump, dissented from the 5th Circuit's decision Monday in a lengthy opinion that was rife with culture war commentary. 'If university officials allow men to act as women in campus events like drag shows, they may feel compelled to allow men to act as women in other campus events as well — like women's sports,' Ho wrote. Echoing the blackface arguments pushed by Wendler, the judge wrote that the 'drag shows violate the university's fundamental mission to ensure a welcoming educational environment for all.' Attorneys for Spectrum WT, meanwhile, said the court's ruling 'is a victory not just for Spectrum WT, but for any public university students at risk of being silenced by campus censors.' CNN has reached out to attorneys for Wendler and the other school officials involved in the lawsuit for comment.
CBS News
20-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Appeals court blocks Louisiana law requiring public schools to display Ten Commandments
What to know about the Louisiana case that blocked schools from displaying the 10 Commandments A panel of three federal appellate judges has ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in each of the state's public school classrooms is unconstitutional. The ruling on Friday marked a major win for civil liberties groups who say the mandate violates the separation of church and state, and that the poster-sized displays would isolate students — especially those who are not Christian. "Parents and students challenge a statute requiring public schools to permanently display the Ten Commandments in every classroom in Louisiana," the court said in its ruling. "The district court found the statute facially unconstitutional and preliminarily enjoined its enforcement. We AFFIRM." The mandate, which took effect Jan. 1, has been touted by Republicans, including President Trump, and marks one of the latest pushes by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms. Backers of the law argue the Ten Commandments belong in classrooms because they are historical and part of the foundation of U.S. law. The ruling from the largely conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stems from a lawsuit filed last year by parents of Louisiana school children from various religious backgrounds, who said the law violates First Amendment language guaranteeing religious liberty and forbidding government establishment of religion. "As noted, if H.B. 71 goes into effect, Students will be subjected to unwelcome displays of the Ten Commandments for the entirety of their public school education," the judges wrote. "There is no opt-out option." Louisiana in June 2024 became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom when Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed the mandate into law. The law required a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in "large, easily readable font" in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities. The court's ruling backs an order issued last fall by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, who declared the mandate unconstitutional and ordered state education officials not to take steps to enforce it and to notify all local school boards in the state of his decision. Law experts have long said they expect the Louisiana case to make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, testing the conservative court on the issue of religion and government. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can "make no law respecting an establishment of religion." The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but served a plainly religious purpose. In 2005, the Supreme Court held that such displays in a pair of Kentucky courthouses violated the Constitution. At the same time, the court upheld a Ten Commandments marker on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol in Austin.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Court blocks Louisiana law requiring schools to post Ten Commandments in classrooms
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A panel of three federal appellate judges has ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in each of the state's public school classrooms is unconstitutional. The ruling on Friday marked a major win for civil liberties groups who say the mandate violates the separation of church and state, and that the poster-sized displays would isolate students — especially those who are not Christian. The mandate has been touted by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, and marks one of the latest pushes by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms. Backers of the law argue the Ten Commandments belong in classrooms because they are historical and part of the foundation of U.S. law. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' order stems from a lawsuit filed last year by parents of Louisiana school children from various religious backgrounds, who said the law violates First Amendment language guaranteeing religious liberty and forbidding government establishment of religion. The mandate was signed into law last June by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. The court's ruling backs an order issued last fall by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, who declared the mandate unconstitutional and ordered state education officials not to take steps to enforce it and to notify all local school boards in the state of his decision. Law experts have long said they expect the Louisiana case to make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, testing the conservative court on the issue of religion and government. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion.' The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but served a plainly religious purpose. In 2005, the Supreme Court held that such displays in a pair of Kentucky courthouses violated the Constitution. At the same time, the court upheld a Ten Commandments marker on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol in Austin.
