Allissa Pollard Talks Key Texas Legislation to Monitor for 2025 in Law360

Complex Litigation partner Allissa Pollard was recently quoted in the Law360 midyear report, “Texas Legislation To Watch Ahead of 2025.” Pollard weighed in on Texas governor Dan Patrick’s goal to pass a law mandating that all classrooms in the state hang the Ten Commandments in state-funded schools.

“Under current Supreme Court precedent, that seems to be unconstitutional. Certainly under the federal constitution, and I would think under the Texas constitution as well,” according to Pollard. She noted that proponents of such a law would likely reference the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, where the court ruled that a football coach could not be barred from praying, even with students, after games.

“I think there's still quite a bit of distance between the court’s decision in that case or the factual situation in that case,” Pollard said. “The more recent case was about a teacher praying or a coach praying on a football field after games, where many students were choosing to participate, but they weren't being required to participate, and the question was about whether the school district, by allowing that, was somehow endorsing a religion. That seems a lot different than schools actually being required to post religious texts in the classroom.”

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