Senate Bill 10 (the Ten Commandments statute) is ruled Constitutional

April 27, 2026

in: Court Rulings, Religion

by Chris Gilbert, Thompson & Horton LLP

Last week, the en banc Fifth Circuit issued its Ten Commandments decision in Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD, and ruled 9-8 that Senate Bill 10 (“SB10”) does not violate either the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.  The preliminary injunction issued by the lower court was vacated.  School districts in Texas must now comply with the requirements of SB 10 and post donated posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

Because I am actively representing a couple Texas school districts in one of the other two big Ten Commandments cases, I won’t comment in detail on the decision – but I do think it raises the following questions which may lead to an appeal to the Supreme Court:

  • Does the Fifth Circuit’s interpretation of Kennedy’s “historical practices and understandings” test, which seems to narrowly limit the “establishment of…
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Mahmoud v. Taylor: the Pride Puppy Case

May 27, 2025

in: Law, Religion, Supreme Court

by Chris Gilbert, Thompson & Horton LLP

On April 22, 2025, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case from the Fourth Circuit about whether parents have a constitutional right to opt out of public school curriculum choices with which they disagree, in this case because of the parents’ religious beliefs.

At issue was the school district’s decision to use a series of LGBTQ-themed books, including a book called “Pride Puppy,” which (in the words of the court of appeals), depicts a family whose puppy gets lost amidst a LGBTQ-pride parade, with each page focused on a letter of the alphabet. The three- and four-year-old audience is invited to look for items such as “[drag] king,” “leather,” “lip ring,” “[drag] queen,” and “underwear.”  See 102 F.4th 191, 197 (4th Cir. 2024).  The parent plaintiffs claimed they were not challenging the school’s ability to adopt the curriculum…

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Menorahs One, Sacred Sheep Zero: The Eleventh Circuit rules that a ban on religious advertising in public transit is unconstitutional

February 8, 2024

in: Court Rulings, Law, Religion

by Chris Gilbert, Thompson & Horton LLP

In Young Israel of Tampa, Inc. v. Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, 89 F.4th 1337 (11th Cir. 2024), the Eleventh Circuit was asked to consider whether a ban on advertisements that “primarily promote a religious faith or religious organization” in mass transit advertising violates the First Amendment.  An Orthodox Jewish synagogue wished to post an advertisement featuring both a menorah and what looks like a dancing dreidel in the Tampa, Florida metro system for a “Chanukah on Ice” program, but the transit authority rejected it under its prohibition on religious advertisements.  Both the trial court and the court of appeals found that the decision violated the First Amendment, although for slightly different reasons.

So why did I find this case interesting?  Well, partially because in 2018, the D.C. Circuit was faced with the exact same case,…

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