10 Commandments in Public Schools? Court's Decision Explained, Plus More Religious Liberty Updates

March 3, 2026

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Episode Summary

Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discuss religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. In this week's episode, Frank DeVito and Joseph Clement explain if the Establishment Clause is violated by posting the 10 Commandments in public schools, Washington's laws that give the state power over parents who refuse to affirm their children's mental illness, and Montgomery County's recent $1.5 million payout to families after Mahmoud v. Taylor.

In this episode, we discuss:

1:23 A recent ruling that Louisiana's law requiring the 10 Commandments to be in every public school classroom does not facially and in all circumstances violate the First Amendment. This dispute is likely to be back in the courtroom as schools begin to follow the state's law. The dissent attempted to bring back the now-disavowed Lemon test.

14:34 A lawsuit against several laws in Washington that enable state-run shelters to hide and perform sex-rejecting procedures on kids that run away from home. Several states, led by Florida and Idaho, recently filed a brief urging the US Supreme Court to take up the case.

26:18 The fallout from Mahmoud v. Taylor - Montgomery County recently agreed to pay $1.5 million to parents and to follow the Supreme Court's order to restore opt-outs from sexually explicit material in the classroom.

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