A federal appeals court handed Texas a major legal win this week, ruling 9, 8 that the state can require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The decision drew immediate fire from Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a U.S. Senate candidate who called the ruling "unconstitutional" and "deeply un-Christian", a framing that drew sharp responses from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and conservative commentators alike.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld S.B. 10, the Texas law mandating the displays, reversing a lower federal court decision that had blocked roughly a dozen school districts from putting up the posters. The majority found the law violates neither the Establishment Clause nor the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
In the majority opinion, as AP News reported, the court wrote that "no child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin." The opinion further stated that "because Plaintiffs fail to show that S.B. 10 substantially burdens their right to religious exercise, their Free Exercise claims must be dismissed."
That reasoning did not satisfy Talarico, who appeared on CNN this week to condemn the decision. The Democrat, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian now running to flip a Texas Senate seat, has opposed the Ten Commandments bill for years, calling it "idolatrous."
Talarico framed his objection in explicitly religious terms, telling CNN viewers he sees the ruling as a threat to both the Constitution and the faith he professes. As Fox News Digital reported, Talarico said on air:
"I'm a Christian, but I know that the most dangerous form of government is theocracy."
He went further, casting the display mandate as an act of coercion rather than expression. In his CNN appearance, Talarico stated:
"I don't want anyone forcing their religion down my throat, and I certainly don't want the government forcing a religion down my throat. So why would I do that to any of my neighbors?"
The state representative also told Fox News Digital directly that "the separation of church and state is a sacred boundary that doesn't just benefit the state, it also benefits the church, because when the church gets too cozy with political power, it loses its prophetic voice."
And he invoked his seminary training to argue the ruling harms believers of all faiths. Talarico said his faith teaches him to love his neighbor "not just my neighbors who look like me, not just my neighbors who vote like me, not just my neighbors who pray like me," adding that this includes "my Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, agnostic and atheist neighbors."
It is a familiar progressive argument, dressed in vestments. Talarico wants voters to believe that a silent, posted text, one that sits on a wall and compels no recitation, no prayer, and no affirmation of belief, amounts to government-imposed theocracy. The Fifth Circuit, by a majority, disagreed. So did the Texas legislature that passed S.B. 10. So did the attorney general who defended it in court.
Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general whose office litigated the case, called the ruling a "major victory for Texas and our moral values." Paxton said the Ten Commandments "have had a profound impact on our nation, and it's important that students learn from them every single day."
Paxton added that his "office was proud to defend SB 10 and successfully ensure that the Ten Commandments will be displayed in classrooms across Texas." The displays are already going up. A photograph from Bagdad Elementary School in Leander, Texas, showed a copy of the Commandments posted in a classroom on November 19, 2025.
When Talarico took a personal shot at the attorney general, saying he was "not sure that Ken Paxton is in a place to lecture us on moral values", Paxton responded on X with his own broadside. The attorney general posted that Talarico "says God commands us to believe in six genders, support late-term abortion, and abuse children by 'transitioning' them. He's completely and totally morally bankrupt."
Whether or not one shares Paxton's blunt tone, the exchange illustrates a widening fault line. Talarico wants to use faith as a shield against faith-friendly policy. Paxton and his allies see that move as incoherent, a politician invoking Christianity to argue against displaying Christianity's foundational moral code.
Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet captured the conservative reaction in a post on X:
"Imagine being a Christian who goes on CNN to condemn putting the Ten Commandments in schools. Imagine James Talarico."
The 9, 8 split on the Fifth Circuit signals the fight is far from over. Opponents of the law, including the ACLU, have indicated they expect to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court has not yet taken up the question of whether state-mandated Ten Commandments displays in public schools pass constitutional muster under its current precedents, and the narrow margin of this ruling makes it a strong candidate for review.
Texas is not alone. Similar laws requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms have been passed in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama, as Breitbart reported, increasing the likelihood of a Supreme Court clash on the issue in the near future. With speculation growing about possible retirements on the Supreme Court, the timing of any appeal could carry added significance for the balance of the bench.
Jonathan Saenz, president and attorney for Texas Values, called the ruling "one of the most important religious liberty victories for Texas in our glorious history." Saenz said it "confirms that our state can honor the moral heritage that undergirds our legal system without violating the First Amendment," Just The News reported.
That framing, the Ten Commandments as a historical and moral document, not merely a sectarian text, is central to the legal defense. It is also the framing the Fifth Circuit majority accepted. The law was passed by Texas's Republican-led legislature, and its supporters argue it recognizes the moral foundations of American law rather than establishing a state religion.
Talarico's objections do not exist in a political vacuum. He is running for the U.S. Senate, hoping to flip a Texas seat blue for the first time in decades. His general-election opponent will likely be either incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn or Paxton himself; the two Republicans are heading to a primary runoff in late May.
A spokesperson for Cornyn offered a three-word response to the ruling: "We support the ruling." That brevity speaks volumes. In a Republican primary where both candidates are competing for conservative voters, backing the Ten Commandments in classrooms is not a close call.
For Talarico, the calculus is different. He is running in a state where Democrats have struggled to unite even around their own candidates, and where cultural issues like religion in schools tend to favor the right. His decision to frame the ruling as "un-Christian" may play well in a CNN segment, but it is a harder sell in a Texas general election, where churchgoing voters are more likely to see the Ten Commandments as common sense than as government overreach.
The broader political environment only complicates his path. GOP hopes of retaining or expanding the Senate majority ride on races like this one in November. Democrats eyeing Texas need a candidate who can peel off moderate and independent voters without alienating the state's large religious population. Calling a Ten Commandments display "theocracy" is an odd way to do that.
Talarico told Fox News Digital that "Jesus taught us to love God and love neighbor, because there is no love of God without love of neighbor." He added: "I don't want the government forcing a religion down my throat." But the law does not force religion on anyone. It posts a text. No student is required to read it aloud, affirm it, or believe it. The court said so explicitly.
The deeper problem with Talarico's position is the contradiction at its core. He claims to speak as a Christian. He invokes Scripture. He cites his seminary training. And then he argues that displaying the Ten Commandments, the moral code at the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition, is itself un-Christian. He went so far as to warn that "the only thing worse than a tyrant is a tyrant who thinks they're on a mission from God."
That line landed on social media. But it raises an obvious question: if Talarico believes government should never reflect the moral convictions of its citizens, what exactly does his faith inform? If the Ten Commandments are too religious for a classroom wall, are they also too religious for a legislator's conscience? The argument, taken seriously, leads to a place where faith is welcome in campaign speeches but banned from public life. That is not neutrality. It is a preference, for secularism over tradition.
Fights over constitutional rights in educational settings are nothing new, and they rarely resolve quietly. This one is headed upward, possibly to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the Ten Commandments are going up on classroom walls in Texas. The law passed. The court upheld it. The attorney general enforced it.
And as political momentum shifts heading into the next election cycle, Democrats like Talarico face a choice: argue the merits, or argue the theology. Talarico chose theology, and found himself on the losing side of both the courtroom and the congregation.
When a politician has to explain why posting "Thou shalt not steal" is an act of tyranny, the argument has already answered itself.