Three mothers in the Houston area have chosen a completely different legal path than previous parent groups who failed: instead of citing the federal Constitution, they are suing the Texas government directly based on state law. This is not a meaningless technical detail. It is a direct response to a reality that religious freedom advocates have faced throughout the past year: the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Texas, has sided with the state.
Three mothers of different faiths share one thing in common: they do not want their children forced to view a religious message that contradicts their family's beliefs every day in the classroom.
New lawsuit targets state law, not federal Constitution
According to Houston Public Media, a Fifth Circuit federal court ruled in spring 2026 that the law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments, enacted in 2025, does not violate the U.S. Constitution and permits enforcement of the law. The federal path has essentially been closed off. Sixteen families sued eleven school districts in July 2025 arguing the law violated the separation of church and state, and Federal Judge Fred Biery blocked enforcement of the law in the sued school districts in August 2025. However, that victory lasted less than a year.
That is why the lawsuit filed in Harris County this time is taking a completely different direction. The three mothers are not challenging the federal Constitution but are relying on the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, enacted in 1999 under Governor George W. Bush, and House Bill 15, a "Parental Rights" constitutional amendment approved by voters. According to Houston Public Media, the lawsuit names the Texas government along with three Houston school districts, Cy-Fair ISD and Spring Branch ISD as defendants. The key point: state law that was once used by Attorney General Ken Paxton as a legal shield for places of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 is now being turned against the state government by Texas citizens themselves.
Three mothers, three faiths, one common goal
Emily Roth is raising her child without any religion. Audrey Rosa Nath is raising her child according to multiple religious traditions in the family, including Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Quakerism. Sanjam Kaur Sohal follows the Sikh faith. These three women do not share the same religion, but their lead attorney, Megan Hassan, says that all want their children to attend school without being forced to view a message that contradicts their family's beliefs, according to Texas Tribune. In a press statement on July 31, 2026, Roth said that the sign overlooks religious diversity in the classroom, teaching students and teachers alike that excluding others is acceptable, even encouraged, and that is not the lesson she wants her child to learn from the Texas government, according to Texas Tribune.
One detail that all four sources mention but few notice: the sign must display the King James Bible version, which belongs to the Protestant tradition. Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant traditions number and interpret the Ten Commandments differently. In other words, the law does not just bring religion into public school classrooms; it chooses a specific version of a specific branch of Christianity as the standard imposed on all students, regardless of whether that student is Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Buddhist, or non-religious.
Three school districts caught between two legal lines
Houston ISD, Cy-Fair ISD and Spring Branch ISD now find themselves in a difficult position: on one side is state law requiring them to display the sign if they receive funding from that source, on the other side is a lawsuit that could force the Harris County court to issue a temporary injunction. According to Houston Public Media, the plaintiffs request the court issue a temporary injunction against the three school districts before the new school year begins, while Houston ISD students are expected to return to school on August 10, 2026. The lawsuit was filed on July 31, 2026 with no trial date set, meaning the likelihood of the court ruling before school opens is a race against time, not a normal legal process.
What is notable is that these three school districts did not choose to enter into this legal battle themselves. They are simply enforcing units of the state, and have now become defendants in a lawsuit that uses the legal tools of the state itself to challenge state policy. If the Harris County court issues an injunction, the three school districts may have to remove the sign in the midst of preparing for school to open, creating inconsistency among schools in the Houston area.
A bigger game than the sign: a Bible-heavy curriculum
This lawsuit did not appear in a vacuum. According to Baptist Standard, less than two months before the lawsuit was filed, the Texas State Board of Education approved a new Bible-heavy curriculum for public schools in June 2026. Saigon Sentinel previously reported in more detail on this program: the mandatory reading list requires students from first through twelfth grade to read Bible stories such as Jonah and the whale, the Damascus road, the Beatitudes and the parable of the prodigal son, affecting 5.4 million students from kindergarten through twelfth grade in Texas. At the same time, the new social studies curriculum removes world cultures in sixth grade and cuts standards requiring students to analyze the impact of race and how minority groups were treated differently in history.
Saigon Sentinel also noted that a $67 million contract between Texas State Board of Education Commissioner Mike Morath and consulting firm MGT Impact Solutions to draft teaching materials based on the standards had not yet been approved, and was not submitted to the legislature as required by law until April 2026, and some Republican members of the State Board of Education acknowledged they did not know about the contract. Placed side by side, the Ten Commandments sign, the mandatory Bible reading list and the law allowing chaplains to operate in public schools since 2023 show a consistent policy trend, not an isolated incident. For the government's part, Attorney General Ken Paxton argues that the Ten Commandments are an important part of American heritage and history, and his office contends that displaying the sign is not coercive because it is only posted, not taught, and students have the right not to look at it, according to Texas Tribune.
Vietnamese American families and the question of which faith gets priority in public classrooms
Houston is home to one of the largest Vietnamese American communities in the United States, stretching from the Bellaire area to suburbs like Katy and areas managed by Cy-Fair ISD and Spring Branch ISD—precisely two of the three school districts being sued this time. Within that community, family religion is not uniform: there are longtime Catholic families from the 1975 migration wave, families that follow Buddhism, Cao Dai, Protestantism, or no religion at all. A sign displaying the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments, permanently posted in public classrooms, raises a similar question as the one that Sohal, a Sikh practitioner, or Nath, with multiple religious traditions, are raising: what will a Vietnamese Buddhist or Catholic student understand about the place of their family's faith in public space when they see that sign every day in class?
This is not speculation about community psychology, but the same legal logic that the lawsuit is citing: the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects every individual, not just one religious group, from the government imposing significant burdens on their freedom of belief. If the Harris County court accepts this argument, the scope of protection applies to every family with a child in the three sued school districts, regardless of religion.
Conclusion: a narrow test that could open doors
This lawsuit is unlikely to overturn the entire SB10 law across Texas—the scope of the request is limited to three Houston school districts, and Harris County Court is a state court with no authority to issue a ruling binding the entire state. But if the judge issues a temporary injunction before school opens, it will be the first evidence that the strategy of using state law, rather than the federal Constitution, can penetrate the shield that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has erected. Conversely, if the lawsuit is dismissed or there is no ruling before August 10, 2026, other families across Texas will realize that the legal door has nearly closed, and the focus of the battle will shift from the courtroom to the ballot box for the State Board of Education and the state legislature—where the Bible-heavy curriculum that just passed shows that supporters have a clear advantage.
Read the original reports at the source links below.