News

Sleeth and Carelli Successful in Obtaining Important Ruling on School Ban of Anti-Homosexual T-Shirt

January 31, 2007

Two partners in the firm - Jack M. Sleeth, Jr. and Paul V. Carelli - were successful in obtaining an important ruling on January 24th in a case involving Constitutional rights in the public schools. U.S. District Judge John Houston dismissed the case brought in 2004 by a Poway High School student who alleged that the school district violated his religious and free speech rights when the school banned a t-shirt he wore to school that expressed his biblical views against homosexuals. Sixteen-year-old student Tyler Harper filed suit against the Poway Unified School District for violating his freedom of speech rights after the school told him he could not wear a t-shirt with the words, "Be Ashamed, Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned" on the front and "Homosexuality is Shameful" on the back.

This case has been in the press several times, at several different stages in the case, and has raised some controversy. The case put in sharp conflict Constitutional rights and the California law that prohibits harassment. In 2004, the District court denied a motion by the boy's lawyers seeking to stop the school from enforcing its dress code with an injunction. (Harper v. Poway Unified School District, 345 F. Supp.2d 1096 (S.D. Cal.2004.) The decision denying the injunction was appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, and the student lost, with an opinion stating, in part, that "the School has a compelling interest in providing a proper educational environment and...(that) its actions were narrowly tailored to achieve that end..." (Harper v. Poway Unified School District, 445 F.3d 1166, 1189 (9th Cir 2006.) The student sought review of that decision in the United States Supreme Court. The Petition before the Supreme Court is scheduled to be considered in February 2007.

The decision issued this week will probably eliminate the necessity of Supreme Court review of that limited decision on the injunction. The recent decision may be appealed to the 9th Circuit.

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