right court allowed the Ten Commandments in every Texas classroom—in direct defiance of SCOTUS.

Key Points:

• The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9–8 that Texas can display the King James version of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, defying the 1980 Supreme Court precedent in Stone v. Graham that struck down a similar law.
• The 5th Circuit justified its decision by claiming that the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton effectively overruled the Lemon v. Kurtzman test, which Stone relied on, a reasoning criticized as legally unsound because lower courts must follow direct Supreme Court precedents unless explicitly overruled.
• This decision raises concerns about religious coercion in public schools, especially in diverse states like Texas, where non-Christian students and parents may feel marginalized or forced to choose private education to avoid exposure to sectarian displays.
• The ruling conflicts with recent Supreme Court decisions emphasizing parental rights to shield children from certain teachings, such as LGBTQ+ content, highlighting an inconsistency in how parental rights are applied regarding religious versus secular or minority viewpoints in education.
• If the Supreme Court upholds the 5th Circuit’s ruling, it risks undermining its own authority by encouraging lower courts to disregard binding precedents, potentially destabilizing the legal system’s respect for Supreme Court supremacy.