A top Texas Republican is slamming his colleague for blocking legislation that would require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms after Louisiana became the first state to institute the measure this week.
In a post to X, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick criticized Republican state House Speaker Dade Phelan for blocking a bill that would have required Texas classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
“Texas WOULD have been and SHOULD have been the first state in the nation to put the 10 Commandments back in our schools,” Patrick said, calling the Ten Commandments “a fundamental foundation of American and Texas law.”
“Last session the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 1515, by Sen. Phil King on April 20th and sent it over to the House, to do what Louisiana just did,” Patrick continued. “Every Texas Republican House member would have voted for it. But, SPEAKER Dade Phelan killed the bill by letting it languish in committee for a month assuring it would never have time for a vote on the floor.”
Patrick called Phelan’s decision “inexcusable,” pledging to “pass the 10 Commandments Bill again out of the Senate next session.”
In 2023, the Texas bill sailed out of the state’s Senate, only to get held up in the House. Members had introduced more than 8,000 pieces of legislation, and some Republicans have blamed Calendars Committee Chairman Dustin Burrows, a Republican, for effectively killing the legislation by placing it on the last calendar. On the final day the bill could have passed out, Democrats held up progress by speaking at length and repeatedly throughout the day, using a technique known in the Texas legislature as “chubbing.”
Louisiana’s law, which now requires public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, has already been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU in an announcement about the lawsuit on Thursday claimed that Louisiana’s “law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional.”
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After Texas Republicans failed to advance their Ten Commandments legislation last year, the ACLU celebrated the delay.
“This bill was an unconstitutional attack on our core liberties, and we are happy it failed,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said in a statement. “The First Amendment guarantees families and faith communities — not politicians or the government — the right to instill religious beliefs in their children.”
