A 20-hour wait to speak: A pre-dawn House panel takes up Ten Commandments

  • In order to testify for or against a bill requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms, members of the public waited nearly a full day for a House committee to take up the issue. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
    In order to testify for or against a bill requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms, members of the public waited nearly a full day for a House committee to take up the issue. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune

    At 2 a.m., they napped on benches in the Capitol corridors, blankets in tow and armed with snacks in anticipation of the long wait. At 5 a.m. they ordered coffee and hot chocolate —- to stay awake, and to stay warm in the frigid hearing room.

    Early Wednesday, a couple of dozen Texans who had waited nearly 20 hours to testify on a bill to require classrooms to post the Ten Commandments gathered in t…