On The Front Lines

Federal Appeals Court Strips Teachers of Right of Expression in the Classroom, Rutherford Institute to Challenge Ruling

RICHMOND, VA -- A federal appeals court has ruled that school officials did not violate a teacher's First Amendment rights when they removed news articles and a poster from his classroom that they considered "too religious." In affirming a lower court decision, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that William Lee, a Spanish teacher at Tabb High School in York County, Va., does not have any constitutional right of expression in the classroom even though Tabb High School allows teachers to post matters of personal and public interest on their classroom walls. Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute had appealed to the Court of Appeals on behalf of Lee after a district court dismissed the case in 2006. A copy of the Court of Appeals' ruling is available here.

"This is a ruling that should alarm educators everywhere, whether or not they are Christians," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "If teachers are so constrained that they have no latitude in the classroom, they're going to have trouble teaching, and it will be the students who end up suffering."

At the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year, Spanish teacher William Lee 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.

In filing suit against the school district, Institute attorneys had argued that school officials were guilty of viewpoint discrimination when deciding certain postings in Lee's classroom were "too religious" while allowing others to remain. Despite the school's stipulation in the lower court that the posted materials did not relate to the curriculum, the Court of Appeals ruled that Lee's expression was part of the school's curriculum, and so school officials had unfettered discretion to censor the materials.