A Harris County judge will hear arguments Friday, Aug. 7, on whether to block Texas's Ten Commandments classroom mandate, five days before Conroe ISD students return to school.

The 1 p.m. hearing before Judge Nathan Milliron in the 165th District Court won't directly affect Conroe ISD. The district's posters have been down since fall 2025, and the Texas Attorney General's Office has told the district in writing not to display them. But a ruling could reshape the legal landscape for all Texas public schools, including the more than 70 campuses Conroe ISD operates across Montgomery County.

Three Houston-area mothers filed the lawsuit Thursday, July 30, in Harris County District Court: Emily Roth, Audrey Rosa Nath and Sanjam Kaur Sohal. Their six children attend Spring Branch, Houston and Cypress-Fairbanks ISDs, the three districts named as defendants alongside Attorney General Ken Paxton and Education Commissioner Mike Morath.

The case takes a different path than the earlier federal challenge. Instead of First Amendment claims, the parents are invoking the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person's religious exercise unless it can prove a compelling interest through the least restrictive means. They also cite Article I, Section 37 of the Texas Constitution, a parental-rights amendment voters approved in November 2025.

"This is kind of like a parallel lawsuit that relies on a different source of law," Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston, told Click2Houston.

Blackman expressed skepticism that the parents can prove a passive classroom display substantially burdens their religious exercise under TRFRA, noting the analysis could change if teachers required students to read or discuss the commandments as religious truth.

Why Conroe ISD classrooms won't change Aug. 12

Conroe ISD is not a defendant in the new lawsuit. According to a district statement, the district removed its Ten Commandments posters after being added to the Cribbs-Ringer v. Comal ISD federal litigation and receiving a related court injunction. Even after the Fifth Circuit upheld the mandate in a separate case, the AG's office provided Conroe ISD explicit written guidance not to display the posters while its own litigation remains pending.

Students returning to The Woodlands High School, College Park High School and the district's other campuses Wednesday, Aug. 12, will not see Ten Commandments posters in their classrooms.

What's at stake statewide

The earlier federal challenge failed when the Fifth Circuit reversed a lower-court injunction and dismissed the constitutional claims in Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD. That ruling cleared the way for districts not under separate court orders to begin displaying posters. Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, one of the defendants in the new case, sent families a letter saying it will display donated posters this school year.

The Aug. 7 hearing won't resolve the full lawsuit. Judge Milliron will decide only whether the posters must come down while the case proceeds. A temporary restraining order, if granted, would apply to the three named districts. But a ruling that TRFRA or the parental-rights amendment blocks the mandate could open the door to challenges in any Texas district, including Conroe ISD, once its current litigation concludes.

The hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at the Harris County courthouse.