Employment Law Now V-96- LOTS of Big Employment Law Developments
COVID-19: New York Travel Guidance, Related Disability FAQs, Reopening/Operating Procedures, School District Update
They Said What? First Amendment Issues in 2020
COVID School Landscape
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor has raised new considerations for districts faced with requests from parents to excuse students from instruction they believe is at odds with their religious beliefs. ...more
In C.S. v. McCrumb, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit addressed the scope of a public school’s ability to restrict student expression on-campus, particularly when that expression involves politically charged,...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a school division’s use of LGBTQ+-inclusive storybooks without allowing parental opt-outs unconstitutionally burdened religious freedom. This decision raises significant questions...more
On June 27, in a 6/3 majority decision in Mahmoud v Taylor, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a public school district violated parents’ constitutional right involving religious freedom by forcing their children to...more
On the final day of its term, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools must accommodate parents’ religious objections to certain instructional materials — in this case, LGBTQ+-inclusive storybooks used in elementary...more
In a 6-3 decision with the justices split along familiar ideological lines, the United States Supreme Court held on Friday, June 27, in Mahmoud v. Taylor, 606 U.S. ___ (2025) (Case No. 24-297)...more
Religious freedom-based challenges to educational policies and actions have gained significant traction in recent years. Cases like Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 US 507 (2022), concerning a football coach’s right...more
Can a public school require students to engage with materials that conflict with their parents’ religious beliefs without offering an opt-out? In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the U.S. Supreme Court enjoined the Montgomery County public...more
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday, June 27, that a Maryland school district’s decision to mandate instruction using LGBTQ+-inclusive storybooks, without offering notice or opt-outs to parents, violated the First...more
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution (and this Insights Blog). We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,...more
Social media has made it much easier to disseminate hurtful criticisms about teachers, principals, superintendents and even board of education members, and the good people of Nutmeg are no exception....more
Ohio Senate Bill 206, (SB 206) introduced in 2024, calls for students who post threatening content on social media to be punished with expulsion from school for up to 180 days. The bill defines the proposed prohibited conduct...more
On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, the Ninth Circuit upheld Oregon’s conversational privacy statute as constitutional, finding that Oregonians have an interest in knowing when in-person conversations are recorded and that these...more
A federal court just blocked the sweeping Title IX rule finalized by the Biden administration last year – effectively wiping the entire rule off the books for all schools nationwide. Prior to Thursday’s ruling, schools across...more
The Biden Administration’s April 2024 changes to Title IX regulations were struck down in a court ruling that applies nationwide. State of Tennessee v. Cardona, No. 2: 24-072-DCR (E.D. Ky. Jan. 9, 2025). The Kentucky federal...more
Last year was a turbulent one for Title IX, and although we are just a few days into 2025, this turbulence has persisted into the new year. Yesterday, January 9, 2025, a federal district court in Kentucky issued a ruling that...more
As protests erupt across college campuses, educational institutions are grappling with how to handle escalating situations and balance important interests like free speech and student safety. Colleges and universities are...more
Yes, we are still talking about this. Despite facing what feels like a rising tide of political discourse in our communities for years, we continue to hear concerns about how schools can balance fostering academic freedom,...more
The limits of First Amendment protections and principles of academic freedom in higher education institutions seem to be shifting. What are the DEI-related trends on campus? How are lower courts handling First Amendment and...more
McNett v. Jefferson-Morgan Sch. Dist., 2:21-CV-01064-RJC, 2021 WL 5505849, at *1 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 23, 2021) (A parent’s challenge to being banned from school events for disruptive behavior found not to have violated his...more
Can a public university discipline a professor for refusing to address a student by the student’s preferred pronoun? If so, can the professor defend his conduct by alleging his religious beliefs prohibit him from recognizing...more
In March, the concept of nominal damages (often just a single dollar awarded to a plaintiff to represent a defendant’s liability in the absence of actual damages) took center stage at the highest courts of both the country...more
In today's new episode, Michael Schmidt talks about social media and schools (and what that means for employers generally), spousal claims against employers for getting COVID-19 at home, the withdrawal of the independent...more
Professor’s Classroom Speech Deemed Protected - In a case involving questions regarding the application of Title IX to classroom instruction, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reasoned that a university’s gender-identity...more
In Uzuegbnam v. Preczewski, the Supreme Court held that the award of nominal damages is sufficient to redress a past injury, satisfying Article III’s redressability requirement. While at first blush, the opinion may appear...more