When a group of parents sued earlier this year over a new state law requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, state Sen. Mayes Middleton was ready.

"There is no such thing as 'separation of church and state' in our Constitution, and our schools are not God-free zones," the Galveston Republican told Katy Christian Magazine.

A federal judge disagreed, blocking the law in 11 school districts based on a 1980 Supreme Court ruling that rejected a similar law in Kentucky.