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The Oklahoma Supreme Court placed a temporary block Monday on State Superintendent of Public Education Ryan Walters’ purchase of Bibles for public school classrooms.

The court ordered the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the state’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services to cease any requests for proposals to purchase the Bibles using taxpayer money.

An Oklahoma City pastor and 32 other individuals and organizations sued Walters and the state to stop the purchases, claiming they were unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs are represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.

They issued the following joint statement about the ruling:

“This victory is an important step toward protecting the religious freedom of every student and parent in Oklahoma. Superintendent Ryan Walters has been abusing his power and the court checked those abuses today. Our diverse coalition of families and clergy remains united against Walters’s extremism and in favor of a core First Amendment principle: the separation of church and state."

Walters also issued a statement:

"The Bible has been a cornerstone of our nation’s history and education for generations. We will continue fighting to ensure students have access to this foundational text in the classroom."