In a recent ruling, the federal district court for the Eastern District of Virginia has dismissed a First Amendment lawsuit filed by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute on behalf of teacher William Lee, whose religious-themed materials were removed from the walls of his classroom while he was out sick. The lawsuit, Lee v. York County School Division, et al., was filed in August 2005 and alleged that the selective removal of Christian materials constituted viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment. Institute attorneys had argued that school officials with the York County School Division deprived William Lee of his rights to freedom of speech and equal protection under the law. The District Court ruled that Lee’s expression constituted expression as an employee of the School Division in the course of the school’s curriculum and so was subject to plenary control by school officials. Additionally, the court held that notwithstanding evidence that teachers at the school were generally allowed to post matters on their walls that were of personal interest or current interest, the school had not created a forum for expression within the school in which Lee had a right to engage in personal expression. Institute attorneys plan to appeal the court’s ruling.
“For school officials to tell a teacher to check his constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door denies him his fundamental right of self-expression,” stated Steve Taylor, an affiliate attorney for The Rutherford Institute. “Furthermore, for a federal court to accept the argument that teachers should leave their religious beliefs at home flies in the face of long-standing Supreme Court rulings to the contrary.”
At the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year, William Lee, a full-time Spanish teacher at Tabb High School in Yorktown, Va., posted materials in his classroom as was the practice among instructors. Tabb High School had a policy of allowing instructors to post upon the walls and bulletin boards of their assigned classrooms pictures and printed/illustrated materials consistent with the educational mission of the school, as well as general and personal materials in keeping with the school’s educational objectives. Lee’s posted materials included news articles about the 2004 presidential candidates and their religious beliefs, as well as a poster publicizing the National Day of Prayer and depicting George Washington praying at Valley Forge, an article from a newspaper pertaining to the religious faith of President Bush with a picture showing Bush praying, and a news article about former Attorney General John Ashcroft and his prayer meetings with staff members. Lee also displayed pictures and articles relating to the religious practices of pre-Inca and Incan civilizations and posters with emblems representing the pantheon of Mayan creature gods. Lee personally received no complaints from students, parents or staff about the materials posted on his classroom walls. However, in October 2004, Lee became ill and was forced to be absent from his duties at Tabb High School. Upon returning to school several days later, Lee discovered that a number of materials relating to Christian religious expression had been removed from his classroom walls. In fact, one particular display, comprised of a montage of images, had its references to Christianity and the Christian cross removed while images that were arbitrarily deemed to be less offensive were left uncensored. Institute attorneys plan to ask an appeals court to reverse the district court’s dismissal of the case and allow William Lee to have his day in court.
A copy of the District Court’s ruling is available here.
Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
