Mara Nathan, Individually and on Behalf of Her Minor Child, M. N., et al. v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, et al.

Nearly fifty years ago, Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980) (per curiam), held that permanently posting the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms violates the Establishment Clause. And Mahmoud v. Taylor, 606 U.S. 522 (2025), recently reaffirmed that public schools burden parents’ free-exercise rights when they “substantially interfere with the religious development” of their children or “pose ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices the parent[s] wish[] to instill in the[ir] child[ren].” Id. at 556 (quoting Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 218 (1972)). Notwithstanding these precedents, the en banc Fifth Circuit declared that Stone is no longer good law and upheld a Texas statute mandating the display of a state-selected version of the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom. The questions presented are:

1. Whether the Establishment Clause forbids a state from mandating the permanent, conspicuous display of a government-selected version of the Ten Commandments in every publicschool classroom.

2. Whether permanently displaying the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom interferes with parents’ Free Exercise Clause right to direct their children’s religious education and burdens children’s religious freedom.