Civil Rights › Constitutional Law › Education Law

Texas Moves Forward with Bill to Ensure Flexibility in Admissions

On April 9, 2013, the Texas Senate approved a bill allowing the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) to maintain its cap on automatic admissions through at least 2017 no matter the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher...more

Supreme Court To Hear Case On Michigan Affirmative Action Ban

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear another major affirmative action case, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, No. 12-682. At issue is the legality of Michigan's voter-approved ban of using racial preferences...more

CWP 2693 of 2010/ 9968 of 2009 [Hemant Goswami vs. Union of India]

Final Order of High Court in Child Labour Case

Under the J.J. Act of 2000, a person up to the age of 18 years is treated as ‘child’. Same age is prescribed under the CPCR Act, 2005 as well. However when it comes to prohibition of Child Labour Act of 1986, the definition...more

Supreme Court Doubles Up On Affirmative Action Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a second higher education affirmative action case this term, even while a decision on the first is expected to be released imminently....more

District Court Finds Boys’ Basketball Haircut Policy Does Not Constitute Discrimination Or Infringe Student Rights

In Hayden v. Greensburg Community School Corporation, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana found that a school’s haircut policy for the boys’ basketball team did not constitute gender discrimination,...more

Religious Institutions Update: March 2013

In this Issue: - Key Cases - Court Upholds Permitting, Licensing and Zoning Regulation of Spiritual Counselors - Non-Liturgical Navy Chaplains Denied Injunctive Relief for Statistical Imbalance in...more

Transgender Youth Barred From Girls’ Restroom

Coy Mathis, born a male, has identified as a female since the age of 18 months. Now at six-years old she must confront issues that far exceed the normal trials and tribulations of the first grade classroom. Coy has dressed in...more

Christian School Files Lawsuit Against Former Teachers

The Little Oaks Private School, a Christian school based in Thousand Oaks, California, recently filed a lawsuit against two of its former teachers after they threatened a lawsuit. The teachers were fired last August when they...more

Forbidding or Allowing Student Religious Speech

A recent unpublished case discusses when a school can forbid student religious speech. If the speech is school-sponsored expressive speech, the school has much more leeway to exercise editorial control, needing only to relate...more

Weekly Brief: DOJ Memo Details Justification For Killing US Citizens  [Video]

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg Law) -- Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia runs through the legal news for the week. A confidential memo leaked from the Department of Justice details the legal rationale for the extrajudicial killing of American...more

ISBE Regulations And Guidance On Certified School Nurses: Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

In July 2012, ISBE amended its regulations addressing the qualifications required for an individual to conduct medical reviews and make recommendations based on the findings of medical reviews. Medical reviews are conducted...more

Why Would I Sue the Government?

Certain situations exist where you can file some kind of legal action against the government, either administrative or a lawsuit. Examples are special education due process hearings and Section 1983 claims for violation of...more

Employers Can Discipline Employees For Certain Social Media Activity

A handful of cases handed down by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has left employers wondering whether they have any rights at all to regulate, monitor and discipline employees for what they post on Facebook and...more

Public School Teachers, Free Speech, and Hostile Environment

In public school, the constitutional tension can be high on these issues: students' and teachers' free speech rights; teachers' Free Exercise rights; the school's concern for the Establishment clause; when bullying begins;...more

Illinois Basketball Star’s Lawsuit For Unequal Treatment In Residency Dispute Can Proceed

A federal judge allowed claims of unequal treatment by a high school basketball player to proceed against his school district. The claims arose out of the student’s move from the attendance area of one high school within the...more

CWP 2693 of 2010 [Hemant Goswami vs. Union of India]

High Court Order - Dec 14, 2012

The Punjab and Haryana High Court called the situation with regard to implementation of child-right laws as “extremely unfortunate” and admonished the Governments of Haryana, Panjab and Chandigarh to take laws for...more

Federal Court Tosses Michigan Affirmative Action Ban

A federal court this month threw out Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in college admissions, the latest volley in the nationwide debate over if and to what extent race can be considered when deciding who gets admitted to...more

Governor Brown Signs Bills Adding Protection for Religious Practices

Governor Brown recently signed two bills that are designed to combat religious discrimination. The Workplace Religious Freedom Act, AB 1964, amends the Government Code and will protect workers who wear turbans, hijabs, and...more

Sixth Circuit Strikes Down Michigan Affirmative Action Ban

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a Michigan law that banned preferential treatment based on race, sex or national origin in public employment, public education or public contracting. The ruling defeats the 2006...more

Affirmative Action Ban Overturned

In an important decision for Michigan's public universities and proponents of affirmative action, the full Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down Michigan's "Proposal 2." Proposal 2 was enacted by voters in 2006 as...more

School Boards Need Constitutional Speech Policies for Students

Sometimes when school boards worry about endorsing religion, they go too far the other way. This seems to have happened when fourth-grade J.G. was not allowed to hand out his Easter Egg Hunt invitations. A Florida federal...more

Palo Alto Boy Returns To School After DNA Flap

A Palo Alto 6th grade boy was allowed to return to his middle school after his family convinced the school officials that they did not need to worry about his genes....more

Boy In School Flap Over Cystic Fibrosis

A Palo Alto middle school ordered an 11 year old boy to move to another middle school 3 miles away because it believed that his genetic makeup was a health risk to some of its other students....more

Good News in the Schoolhouse

In Child Evangelism Fellowship v. Minneapolis Special School Dist. No. 1, the Eighth Circuit recently provided guidance on how religious community organizations may partner with school districts and on the interaction between...more

Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Affirmative Action

The United States Supreme Court Wednesday heard opinions about how race is used as a factor in admissions at a Texas university, in a case that has the potential to ban affirmative action from the college application process....more