(CN) - Texas and Louisiana defended the constitutionality of state laws requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom at a hearing Tuesday before the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday.

In two separate cases, groups of parents are challenging the laws on behalf of themselves and their children, arguing the statutes violate their freedom of religion. A federal judge in Louisiana found that state's law, which was originally set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, is likely unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction blocking it. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit upheld that decision last year.

A Texas federal judge also issued a preliminary injunction blocking several school districts from complying with that state's law, which was passed in June 2025.

The full Fifth Circuit heard consolidated oral arguments Tuesday on whether to uphold the injunctions.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 in Stone v. Graham that a similar Kentucky statute was unconstitutional under the test it established in Lemon v. Kurtzman. The court held in that case in order to comply with the First Amendment's establishment clause, a government action must have a secular purpose and a primary effect that neither enhances nor inhibits religion and must not foster "excessive entanglement" between government and religion.

However, the Supreme Court explicitly abandoned the Lemon test in its 2022 ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, where it found that a high school football coach praying on the field after games did not violate the establishment clause. The court said the establishment clause should instead be interpreted "by reference to historical practices and understandings."

But Jonathan Youngwood, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the two cases, told the Fifth Circuit Tuesday that Stone itself has never been overturned by the Supreme Court and thus remains good law.

Some of the judges questioned this argument. U.S. Circuit Judge Cory Wilson, a Donald Trump appointee, asked if that means the Supreme Court would have had to list out every case that relied on Lemon if it wanted to overturn them as well, and U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho, also a Trump appointee, said Stone has "no other leg to stand on besides Lemon."

The Texas and Louisiana solicitors general told the court that Kennedy requires plaintiffs to show that a government action reflects what was historically considered to be a "hallmark" of government establishment of religion.

Louisiana Solicitor General Ben Aguinaga described what he argued is the required test for establishment clause cases: "Does this look like a government coercing somebody to attend church, punishing them for not attending church, the sorts of hallmarks that our founders understood when this country ratified the First Amendment?"

U.S. Circuit Judge Stephen Higginson pushed back, asking, "what's the limiting principle, then?

"If the hallmarks suggest that's fine, could the schools start each day by reading the Ten Commandments?" the Barack Obama appointee asked. "Could you not just post as posters, but then answer student questions, teach, proselytize? Where on the spectrum do we begin to say no? I think a football coach after a game is a lot different than every hour of every day all year, that scripture text facing students."

At a virtual press conference after the hearing, several of the plaintiffs in the two cases spoke about how they feel the Texas and Louisiana laws violate their religious freedom, describing how the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms conflicts with their religious beliefs.

"I believe it's critical for my children to receive and understand scripture within the context of our faith, which honors God's gift of diversity and teaches that all people are equal," Reverend Jeff Sims, a Presbyterian minister and plaintiff in the Louisiana case, said.

"Louisiana's law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom doesn't just interfere with my and my children's religious freedom, it tramples on it," Sims continued. "Religious freedom in this country means that families get to decide if, when and how their children should be introduced to religious scripture, not the state."

Source: Courthouse News Service