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A&O Shearman files amicus brief on behalf of Center for Inquiry, supporting plaintiff-appellees challenging the Texas Senate Bill 10

A&O Shearman files amicus brief on behalf of Center for Inquiry, supporting plaintiff-appellees challenging the Texas Senate Bill 10
Published Date
Jan 13 2026
Related people
Image of Noah Brumfield
Noah BrumfieldPartner, Washington DC
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Emily Westridge BlackPartner, Austin
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Billy MarshPartner, Dallas
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Andrew ShaefferAssociate, New York
Image of Kristyn Hansen
Kristyn HansenAssociate, New York
Image of Nathan Romo
Nathan RomoAssociate, Austin
On December 29, 2025, partners Noah Brumfield, Emily Westridge Black, and Billy Marsh filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Center for Inquiry (CFI) in Nathan v. Alamo Independent School District, urging the Fifth Circuit to affirm the holding of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas that Texas Senate Bill 10, which requires public school classrooms in Texas to display a copy of the Ten Commandments, is unconstitutional.

In a challenge brought by Texas parents, the district court enjoined S.B. 10 as applied to the 11 school district defendants. The state appealed on behalf of the school district defendants. CFI’s amicus brief supports plaintiff-appellees and is focused on parents’ right to direct the religious upbringing of their children, which is grounded in the 14th Amendment’s substantive due process clause and the First Amendment. 

CFI is a non-profit educational, advocacy, and research organization headquartered in Amherst, New York. CFI strives to foster a secular society based on reason, science, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values and opposes the teaching of religion in public schools.

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