A federal judge has temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing a new law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Texas from requiring nearly a dozen public school districts across the state to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

The judges opting to hear the cases together marks a significant development in a saga that many believe will reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The United States Supreme Court in Washington on June 11. Reynolds Stefani/CNP/ABACA via REUTERSThe U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an initial bid by state Democrats to expand voting by mail to all Texas voters during the coronavirus pandemic. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Biery's order while Texas appeals his ruling. In order for someone to vote by mail in the July 14 primary runoffs, counties must receive their application for a mail-in ballot by July 2. A favorable decision for Democrats by the Supreme Court by early October could still allow for a massive expansion in voting by mail during the November general election.

Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneAfter a series of losses in state and federal courts, Texas Democrats are looking to the U.S. Supreme Court to expand voting by mail during the coronavirus pandemic. The Texas Democratic Party on Tuesday said it asked the high court to immediately lift the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals' block on a sweeping ruling that would allow all Texas voters who are seeking to avoid becoming infecting at in-person polling places to instead vote by mail. The fight to expand who can qualify for a ballot they can fill at home and mail in has been on a trajectory toward the Supreme Court since Texas Democrats, civil rights groups and individual voters first challenged the state's rules months ago when the new coronavirus reached Texas. Under his order, voters under the age of 65 who would ordinarily not qualify for mail-in ballots would now be eligible. In their appeal, the Democrats are asking the Supreme Court to leave in place Biery's order and take up the case on the claim that the state's age restrictions for voting by mail violate the 26th Amendment's protections against voting restrictions that discriminate based on age.

Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneA three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday extended its order blocking a lower courts sweeping ruling that would have allowed all Texas voters to qualify to vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction in late May expanding mail-in voting, but the appellate panel almost immediately put it on administrative hold while awaiting legal briefings from both sides. Thursday's ruling keeps Biery's ruling on ice while Texas appeals it. In his appeal to the 5th Circuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that Biery's injunction threatened "irreparable injury" to the state "by injecting substantial confusion into the Texas voting process mere days before ballots are distributed and weeks before runoff elections." Siding with Paxton, the 5th Circuit panel in part found that requiring Texas officials to institute voting by mail for all against their will would present significant, irreparable harm on the state.

HOUSTON – There's a big legal fight underway over whether voting by mail in Texas should be expanded. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says no, but the Texas Democratic Party and several voting rights groups say yes. What is the state’s legal argument against expanding vote by mail? What are the legal arguments for expanding vote by mail in texas? The Texas Democratic Party and other voting rights and civil rights groups, like the Texas Civil Rights Project, are suing the state, arguing that the current eligibility requirements for mail-in ballots should be dropped because of the coronavirus pandemic.