Caution in the classroom: K-12 teacher in-class speech, the federal courts and garcetti

Communication Law and Policy

Volumn 15, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 175-202

  Salkin, Erica R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

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EID: 77951245867     PISSN: 10811680     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10811681003666737     Document Type: Article

References (151)

1. See, e.g., Keyishian v. Bd of Regents, 385 U.S. 589 (1967).
2. Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234 (1957).
3. This article studies public schools only - private schools, as non-government entities, do not have the same First Amendment considerations when it comes to teacher speech.
4. 391 U.S. 563 (1968).
5. 461 U.S. 138 (1983).
6. 484 U.S. 260 (1988).
7. 547 U.S. 410 (2007).
8. Id. at 421.
9. Shepard's citation search on LexisNexis, Nov. 1, 2009.
10. See, e.g., Melissa Lierly, "Say What?!?": Defining Free Speech Protection for Public Employees: Garcetti v. Ceballos, 7 FLA. COASTAL L. REV. 53 (Special Supp. 2006)
11. Stephen I. Vladeck, The Espionage Act and National Security Whistleblowing After Garcetti, 57 AM. U.L. REV. 1531 (2008).
12. See, e.g., Martha M. McCarthy & Suzanne E. Eckes, Silence In The Hallways: The Impact of Garcetti v. Ceballos on Public School Educators, 17 B.U. PUB. INT. L.J. 209 (2008).
13. Robert S. Rosborough IV, A "Great" Day for Academic Freedom: The Threat Posed to Academic Freedom by the Supreme Court's Decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos, 72 ALA. L. REV. 565 (2009).
14. The search referenced in supra note 8 was modified with the search term "teacher." Each identified case was examined to determine if it dealt with educational speech.
15. See Houlihan v. Sussex Tech. Sch. Dist., 461 F. Supp. 2d 252 (D. Del. 2006).
16. See Hudson v. Leake County Sch. Dist., Civ. No. 3:08cv90 DPJ-JCS, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39925 (S.D. Miss., Apr. 21, 2009).
17. David Schimmel & Matthew Militello, Legal Literacy for Teacher: A Neglected Responsibility, 77 HARVARD EDUC. REV. 257-84 (2007). Many of these teachers had legal topics incorporated into other courses.
18. Pickering, 391 U.S. 563, 564 (1968). Pickering wrote, "As I see it, the bond issue is a fight between the Board of Education that is trying to push tax-supported athletics down our throats with education, and a public that has mixed emotions about both of these items because they feel they are already paying enough taxes, and simply don't know whom to trust with any more tax money. I must sign this letter as a citizen, taxpayer and voter, not as a teacher, since that freedom has been taken from the teachers by the administration. Do you really know what goes on behind those stone walls at the high school?" Id.
19. Id. at 567.
20. Id. at 568.
21. Id. at 572.
22. Id. at 573 (citing New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)).
23. See, e.g., Garrison v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 64 (1964).
24. Pickering, 391 U.S. at 574 (citing Garrison v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 64 (1964).
25. Wood v. Georgia, 370 U.S. 375 (1962)).
26. 429 U.S. 274 (1977).
27. Id. at 281-83.
28. Id. at 285.
29. Id. at 286.
30. 461 U.S. 138, 141 (1983).
31. Myers v. Connick, 507 F. Supp. 752, 758 (E.D. La. 1981).
32. Connick, 461 U.S. at 143.
33. Id. at 148.
34. Id. at 147.
35. Id. at 148.
36. Bessent v. Dyersburg State Cmty. College, 224 Fed. Appx. 476, 479 (6th Cir. 2007) (internal citations omitted) (emphasis added).
37. See Emily Gold Waldman, Returning to Hazelwood's Core: A New Approach to Restrictions on School-Sponsored Speech, 60 FLA. L. REV. 63, 80 (2008).
38. Kirkland v. Northside Indep. Sch. Dist., 890 F.2d 794 (5th Cir. 1989).
39. Id. at 796.
40. Id. at 800.
41. Id. at 802.
42. 136 F.3d 364 (4th Cir. 1998).
43. Id. at 366.
44. Id. at 367.
45. Id. at 368.
46. Id. at 369.
47. Id. at 378 (Motz, J., dissenting).
48. Id. at 376 (Motz, J., dissenting).
49. 270 F.3d 1036 (6th Cir. 2001).
50. Id. at 1042.
51. Id. at 1045.
52. Id. at 1051-52.
53. Id. at 1051.
54. Id. at 1050.
55. Id. at 1054-55.
56. Id. at 1054.
57. Id. at 1056.
58. 484 U.S. 260, 262 (1988).
59. Id. at 263-64.
60. 393 U.S. 503 (1969).
61. 484 U.S. at 270-73 (emphasis added).
62. Id. at 263.
63. Id. at 271.
64. As defined by Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n, 460 U.S. 37, 47 (1983), which focuses on whether the forum is intended for "indiscriminate use" (a public forum) or for an intended purpose (a nonpublic forum).
65. Perry Education Ass'n, 460 U.S. at 49 ("Implicit in the concept of the nonpublic forum is the right to make distinctions in access on the basis of subject matter and speaker identity. These distinctionsmay be impermissible in a public forum but are inherent and inescapable in the process of limiting a nonpublic forum to activities compatible with the intended purpose of the property. The touchstone for evaluating these distinctions is whether they are reasonable in light of the purpose which the forum at issue serves.").
66. 484 U.S. at 271.
67. Id. at 272.
68. See, e.g., Miles v. Denver Pub. Sch., 944 F.2d 773, 775 (10th Cir. 1991).
69. Miles v. Denver Pub. Sch., 944 F.2d 773 (10th Cir. 1991).
70. Id. at 775.
71. Id. at 776.
72. Id. at 778.
73. Id. at 777.
74. 996 F.2d 448 (1st Cir. 1993).
75. Id. at 453.
76. Id. at 452.
77. See Lacks v. Ferguson Reorganized Sch. Dist. R-2, 147 F.3d 718 (8th Cir. 1998).
78. See Silano v. Sag Harbor Union Free Sch. Dist., 42 F.3d 719 (2d Cir. 1994).
79. See Bishop v. Aranov, 926 F.2d 1066 (11th Cir. 1991).
80. 547 U.S. 410 (2006).
81. Ceballos "questioned the affidavit's statement that tire tracks led from a strippeddown truck to the premises covered by the warrant.His doubts arose from his conclusion that the roadway's composition in some places made it difficult or impossible to leave visible tire tracks." 547 U.S. at 414.
82. Id. at 413-15.
83. Id. at 415.
84. Ceballos v. Garcetti, Civ. No. CV 00-11106 AHM, 2002 U.S. Dist LEXIS 28039 (C.D. Calif., Jan. 30, 2002).
85. Ceballos v. Garcetti, 361 F.3d 1168, 1174 (9th Cir. 2004).
86. 547 U.S. at 419.
87. Id. at 420-21 (citing Givhan v.Western Line Consol. Sch. Dist., 439 U.S. 410 (1979)).
88. Id. at 421.
89. Id. at 422.
90. Id. at 423.
91. Id. at 418.
92. Id. at 424-25.
93. Id. at 438-39 (Souter, J., dissenting).
94. Id. at 425 (emphasis added).
95. See supra note 8.
96. See, e.g., Baar v. Jefferson County Bd. of Educ., 311 Fed. Appx. 817 (6th Cir. 2009).
97. McKay v. Dallas Indep. Sch. Dist., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18721 (N.D. Tex., Mar. 3, 2009).
98. See, e.g., Fierro v. City of New York, 591 F. Supp. 2d 431 (S.D.N.Y. 2008).
99. Saia v. Haddonfield Area Sch. Dist., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67018 (D.N.J., Sept. 10, 2007).
100. See, e.g., Samuelson v. Laporte Cmty. Sch. Corp., 526 F.3d 1046 (7th Cir. 2008).
101. Bobeck v. Brownsville Area Sch. Dist., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10015 (W.D. Pa., Feb. 10, 2009).
102. See, e.g., Veggian v. Camden Bd. of Educ., 600 F. Supp. 2d 615 (D.N.J. 2009).
103. McGuire v. Warren, 490 F. Supp. 2d 331 (S.D.N.Y. 2007).
104. Mayer v. Monroe County Cmty. Sch. Corp., 474 F.3d 477 (7th Cir. 2007).
105. Mayer v. Monroe County Cmty. Sch. Corp., 1:04-CV-1695-SEB-VSS, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26137 (S.D. Ind., Mar. 10, 2006).
106. 'Mayer's current-events lesson was part of her assigned tasks in the classroom.
107. Garcetti applies directly.' 474 F.3d at 480.
108. Id. at 479.
109. No. 06 Civ. 6697, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55080 (S.D.N.Y. July 20, 2007).
110. Id. at *5
111. Id. at *9.
112. Id. at *12.
113. A Louisiana teacher was in a similar situation that same year. She was fired after discussing with her class her personalWeb site, which featured art withmature themes. The court focused its decision on policymaking authority, however, and only briefly mentioned that it would have applied the Garcetti standard if the case had proceeded to consider the teacher's First Amendment claim. eatherWeathers v. Lafayette Parish Sch. Bd., 520 F. Supp. 2d 827 (W.D. La. 2007).
114. Panse v. Eastwood, 303 Fed. Appx. 933 (2nd Cir. 2008).
115. Id. at 934-35.
116. 478 F. Supp. 2d 377 (E.D.N.Y. 2007).
117. Id. at 380-81.
118. Id. at 381.
119. Id. at 382 (internal references omitted).
120. Id. at 384.
121. Kenney v. Genesee Valley Bd. of Cooperative Educ. Svcs., No. 07-CV-6442 CJS, 2008 U.S. Dist. Lexis 8808 (W.D.N.Y., Feb. 6, 2008)
122. Id. at *8-9 (quoting Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006)) (internal citations omitted).
123. Id. at *12.
124. Lee v. York County Sch. Div., 484 F.3d 687 (4th Cir. 2007).
125. Id. at 690-91.
126. Id. at 694.
127. Id. at 695 n.11.
128. Id. at 695.
129. Id. at 697.
130. Id. at 698.
131. Id. at 700.
132. No. 3:03cv091, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58202 (S.D. Ohio, July 30, 2008).
133. Id. at *9-15.
134. Id. at *23 (citing Garcetti, 547 U.S. 410, 421 (2006)).
135. Id. at *25 (quoting Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410, 712 (2006) (Souter, J., dissenting)).
136. Id. at *27-28 (internal citations omitted).
137. Id. at *49.
138. Johnson v. Poway Unified Sch. Dist., Case No. 07cv783, 2008 U.S. Dist. Lexis 107665, (S.D. Ca., Sept. 4, 2008).
139. Id. at *7-11.
140. Id. at *13-14.
141. Id. at 14.
142. Id. at 16-17.
143. Id. at 28.
144. Id. at 31-32.
145. Id. at 47.
146. 42 F.3d 719 (2nd Cir. 1994).
147. Panse v. Eastwood, 303 Fed. Appx. 933 (2nd Cir. 2008).
148. Caruso v. Massapequea Union Free Sch. Dist., 478 F. Supp. 2d 377 (E.D.N.Y. 2007).
149. Evans-Marshall, No. 3:03cv091, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58202 (S.D. Ohio, July 30, 2008).
150. 136 F.3d 364, 378 (4th Cir. 1998) (Motz, J., dissenting).
151. See Schimmel & Militello, supra note 14, at 262.