Docket number: 23-1374 (8th Cir.)
The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute filed an amicus brief in support of two Missouri public school employees, Brooke Henderson and Jennifer Lumley. Henderson and Lumley allege that school officials conducting a mandatory diversity training violated the First Amendment by forcing the two to confess their privilege and commit themselves to anti-racist advocacy.
The district court not only ruled against the plaintiffs, it ordered them to pay the school district’s attorneys’ fees of more than $300,000.
HLLI’s brief urges the Eighth Circuit to reverse the order granting judgment to the defendants and its order imposing punitive fees against the plaintiffs. State imposed loyalty oaths have no place in a free society. It does not matter whether the state requires the oath by written policy or whether a supervisor simply compels it. We hope the Eighth Circuit treats these claims with the seriousness that they deserve.
Counsel for the school district opposed HLLI’s wish to file its amicus brief. On May 30, HLLI filed a response to the school district’s opposition.
On September 13, 2024, the Eighth Circuit issued its opinion affirming the district court’s finding of no standing based on a lack of injury-in-fact but reversing the lower court’s punitive award of attorney’s fees to defendants.
Case Documents
| Description | |
| Sep 13, 2024 | OPINION of Eighth Circuit |
| May 16, 2023 | AMICUS BRIEF of Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute |
| May 30, 2023 | REPLY in Support of Motion to File as Amicus Curiae |