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
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
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether states can ban transgender high school and college athletes from participating on female sports teams at their schools. After initially declining to review this issue in 2023 and...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
Must a student with a disability prove that their school acted in “bad faith” to win a discrimination case? Until now, courts in some parts of the country said yes, requiring disabled students to meet a higher standard than...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
The Supreme Court declined to review the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that a Virginia high school’s admissions policy did not violate the Constitution, nor was its goal of creating a diverse student body...more
On February 20, 2024, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging a “race-neutral” admissions policy at a public magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia....more
When I reflect on the relationship that our firm has with our clients, I’m most proud of the fact that you can always count on us. That often means defending complex litigation, steering you through regulatory threats,...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 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
On March 8, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski that claims challenging a campus policy on distribution of religious literature were not mooted by the school’s decision to change the policy....more