- Texas' Senate passed a bill that would requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments.
- The Senator who authored the bill thinks the Supreme Court paved the way for his bill to pass.
- The Supreme Court last year sided with a football coach who lost his job after praying on the field.
A Texas lawmaker's bill that would require all public school classrooms in the state to display the Ten Commandments passed in the Senate Thursday night, and the Senator at the helm believes the Supreme Court paved the way for him to get the bill signed into law.
Sen. Phil King, a Republican, is convinced the Supreme Court would have his back if his bill were to be challenged in the nation's highest court because of an earlier case heard by the court regarding a Washington state football coach who lost his job after repeatedly praying on the field at the end of games.
"[The bill] will remind students all across Texas of the importance of the fundamental foundation of America," King said at an April committee hearing regarding his bill, Senate Bill 1515, The Texas Tribune reported.
The Supreme Court ultimately sided with the Washington football coach, Joe Kennedy, in the case last year. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in his opinion on Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that "The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike."
The Texas Tribune reported that at the committee hearing earlier this month regarding Senate Bill 1515, King said it was time to bring back the religious symbols, arguing the Ten Commandments were part of the fabric of America.
He added that the Supreme Court cleared the way for this bill when they sided with Kennedy.
Sen. King did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The bill passed 17-12 in Texas' state Senate on Thursday.
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