Separation of church and state

Republicans redrew Texas' 35th Congressional District last year hoping to flip it, setting up a San Antonio-area race between Republican Carlos De La Cruz, an Air Force veteran and first-time candidate whose sister is Rep. Monica De La Cruz, and Democrat Johnny Garcia, a longtime Bexar County sheriff's deputy. Both are Latino men with law enforcement or military backgrounds who blur typical partisan lines: De La Cruz echoes anti-corruption, cost-cutting messaging similar to Democrats', while Garcia, a self-described "old school Democrat," breaks with his party on border policy and some social issues.

Analysts rank the 35th as a pivotal test of the GOP's mid-decade gerrymander and of whether Latino voters continue trending Republican after 2024. The district is majority Hispanic by eligible voters but leans Republican as drawn, having favored Trump by double digits last cycle. Spending has topped $9 million combined, with Trump's political network and House Majority PAC both pouring in money. Trump is set to rally for De La Cruz in San Antonio, underscoring national Republican stakes in preserving their House majority through races like this one.

Three years after the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the case allowing former assistant football coach Joe Kennedy to pray on the field is reshaping how courts interpret the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. Kennedy prayed once more after the ruling in 2023, then left coaching and moved to Florida, but the legal precedent has outlasted his return.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals cited Kennedy 112 times in a narrow April ruling upholding a Texas law requiring the Ten Commandments in public classrooms, treating the case as the new standard for measuring religious establishment against founding-era practice. More than two dozen Texas families have since asked the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to that law. Separately, Kennedy testified before the Trump administration's Religious Liberty Commission, which cited his case as a landmark win for religious liberty and recommended the Justice Department clarify church-state separation standards. Legal experts say the shifts could extend to school prayer, public funding of religious organizations, and employment rules at religious institutions receiving government subsidies.