Recent Cases

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• Busch v. Marple Newtown Sch. Dist., No. 07-2967 (3d Cir. June 1, 2009) [HTML 6,628kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (DE, NJ, PA, V.I.) has ruled that a Pennsylvania school district did not violate a student’s or his parents’ free speech or Establishment Clause rights by telling his mother she could not read the Bible to his kindergarten class.
  
• Comer v. Scott, No. 08-511 (W.D. Tex. Mar. 31, 2009) [HTML 4,866kb]
  A federal district court has ruled that the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) neutrality policy prohibiting staff from taking a position on the teaching of creationism in public schools does not violate the Establishment Clause.
  
• ACLU v. Miami-Dade County Sch. Bd., No. 06-14633 (11th Cir. Feb. 5, 2009) [HTML 6,714kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (AL, FL, GA), in a 2-1 panel split, has ruled that the Miami-Dade County School Board’s (MDCSB) decision to remove the book ¡Vamos a Cuba from elementary school libraries did not violate the plaintiffs’ free speech or due process rights.
  
• Johnson v. Poway Unified Sch. Dist., No. 07-783 (Cal. S.D. Sept. 4, 2008) [HTML 7,503kb]
  A U.S. district court in California has ruled that a high school teacher’s free speech right were violated when he was ordered to remove banners from his classroom because of concern over their religion content.
  
• Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum v. Montgomery County Pub. Sch., No. 284980 (Md. Cir. Ct. Jan. 31, 2008) [HTML 3,410kb]
  A Maryland court has upheld the approval by the Maryland State Board of Education’s (MBOE) of Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) much-challenged sex education curriculum.
  
• Parker v. Hurley, No. 07-1528 (1st Cir. Jan. 31, 2008) [HTML 5,604kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (ME, MA, NH, RI, P.R.) has ruled that a Massachusetts school district’s refusal to allow parents to opt their elementary school children out of lessons aimed teaching tolerance for same-sex marriage did not violate their own or their children’s rights to free exercise of religion or due process.
  
• Lee v. York County Sch. Div., No. 06-1363 (4th Cir. May 2, 2007) [HTML 4,199kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that a school district did not violate a Virginia teacher’s freedom of speech by removing materials he had posted on a classroom bulletin board out of legal concern about their religious content.
  
• Mayer v. Monroe County Cmty. Sch. Corp., No. 06-1993 (7th Cir. Jan. 24, 2007) [HTML 5,355kb]
  In a short, unanimous panel decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that a public elementary school teacher’s free speech rights were not violated when she was prohibited from expressing her opinion of the war in Iraq during instructional time.
  
• ACLU v. Miami-Dade County School Board, No. 06-21577 (S.D. Fla. July 24, 2006) [HTML 5,540kb]
  A federal district court in Florida has issued a preliminary injunction to block the Miami-Dade County School Board (MDCSB) from removing the book ¡Vamos a Cuba!, along with 23 other books in a series about life in other countries, from elementary school libraries.
  
• Selman v. Cobb County School District, No. 05-10341 (11th Cir. May 25, 2006) [HTML 3,733kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has vacated a lower court's decision that a Georgia school district's application of stickers to science textbooks cautioning about the scientific validity of the theory of evolution violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
  
• Lee v. York County School Division, No. 05-125 (E.D. Va. Feb. 23, 2006) [HTML 4,502kb]
  A Virginia federal district court has ruled that school officials did not violate a teacher's free speech or equal protection rights under either the U.S. or the Virginia constitutions when they removed posters with religious content from his classroom.
  
• Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, No. 04-2688 (M.D. Pa. Dec. 20, 2005) [HTML 6,739kb]
  The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania has ruled that the Dover School Board's (DSB) policy of reading a disclaimer to ninth grade students in science classes that questions the scientific validity of evolution and offers intelligent design as an viable alternative violates the First Amendment Establishment Clause's requirements of religious neutrality and separation of church and state.
  
• Eklund v. Byron Union School District, 2005 WL 3086580 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2005) [HTML 3,002kb]
  In an unpublished opinion, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that a California school district's use of role-playing in a world history class to teach middle school students about Islam does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
  
• Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum v. Montgomery County Public Schools, No. 05-1194 (D.Md. May 5, 2005) [HTML 6,779kb]
  A Maryland federal district court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) barring Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) from implementing its pilot sex education program that addresses the issue of "sexual variation."
  
• Williams v. Vidmar, No. 04-4946 (N.D.Cal. Apr. 28, 2005) [HTML 4,789kb]
  A California federal district court has ruled that an elementary school teacher stated a valid claim for violation of his federal equal protection rights based on his allegation that he was treated differently from other teachers because of his avowed Christian beliefs and because he was required to obtain prior approval from the principal before distributing any supplemental classroom materials.
  
• Selman v. Cobb County School District, No. 02-2325 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 13, 2005) [HTML 4,664kb]
  A federal district court in Georgia has ruled that a school district's application of stickers to science textbooks cautioning about the scientific validity of the theory of evolution violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
  
• Mayer v. Monroe County Community School Corporation, No. 04-1695 (S.D. Ind. March 10, 2006) [HTML 4,064kb]
  An Indiana U.S. district court has ruled that a teacher's free speech rights were not violated when she was prohibited from expressing her opinion of the war in Iraq during instructional time.