Docket number: No. 23-3630 (6th Cir.)
On September 29, HLLI filed an amicus brief in support of Parents Defending Education’s challenge to the unconstitutional speech restrictions in the Olentangy Local School District’s student code of conduct.
At the district court, PDE challenge the speech restrictions which effectively ban “misgendering” other students by using the “wrong” pronoun to address them or speak about them. PDE sought to enjoin the unconstitutional speech restrictions but the district court concluded that it was unlikely to suceed on the merits, thereby refusing to issue them an injunction. PDE appealed that decision.
HLLI amicus brief argues that the district court’s decision mangles the Sixth Circuit’s existing case law, namely its decision in Meriwether v. Hartop, 992 F.3d 492 (6th Cir. 2021). Specifically, the court inverted First Amendment doctrines applying to school students and to public employees, finding the former’s free speech rights more circumscribed than the latter. In reality, it is public employees such as school teachers who knowingly sacrifice some of the free speech rights when accepting employments from the government. Students, however, who are compelled to attend school cannot be said to have made any voluntary sacrifice of their rights. Likewise, the school district’s authority to regulate speech diminishes the further from the class room the speech occurs, whereas the speech restrictions here also targeted off campus speech. For these reasons, HLLI argues the district court order should be reversed and PDE should be awarded an injunction.
Case Documents
| Description | |
| Sep 29, 2023 | AMICUS BRIEF Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute in Support of Plaintiff-Appellant and Reversal |