Jock v. Ransom, No. 05-1108 (N.D. N.Y. June 28, 2007)
A federal district court in New York has ruled that school officials did not violate the equal protection rights of Native American students by ending the practice of allowing recitation of a Mohawk thanksgiving address over the school public address system and during certain school events. When a non-Mohawk complained that the address could be a prayer, Salmon River School District officials sought a legal opinion. The attorneys concluded that a court probably would find that recitation of the address at school events violates the Establishment Clause but that a "student-initiated, pre-school" recitation of the address in a location where students could gather and participate voluntarily would protect free speech rights of participants and non-participants alike. Based on this advice, Superintendent Glenn Bellinger decided to relocate the address to the school auditorium and to end the practice of reciting it on the PA system and at pep rallies and lacrosse games. Several Mohawk students and their parents sued, alleging the decision violated their equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The court began by declining to determine whether the address constitutes a religious prayer, concluding this was not necessary to decide the case. Instead, the court focused on the merits of the equal protection claim, framing the issue as whether the students had presented sufficient evidence that school officials acted on account of the students’ race or national origin. The court rejected the students’ argument that they were subjected to disparate treatment in that the district "endorse[s] daily recitation of the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ over the school’s public address system." The comparison of an address applicable to all students to an address applicable only to a specific race did not "permit an inference of race-based discrimination," the court determined. Nor was it convinced by allegations of discriminatory intent based on the contention that the district excluded Mohawk cultural practices while encouraging cultural practices centered around Christian and other holidays. As with the Pledge, the court found the students had attempted to compare holidays unrelated to any specific group with the Mohawk address. In addition, the court cited evidence that the district celebrates and teaches about a variety of cultures, including Mohawk culture.
Finally, the court rejected the students’ assertion that school officials had sought the attorneys’ opinion as a pretext to end the practice. "[U]under the facts and circumstances of this case, resort to legal opinion, even if that legal opinion proved to be faulty, is not a reasonable basis upon which to infer intentional discrimination," the court determined, emphasizing that the issue was not whether the attorneys were correct but rather whether it was reasonable for school officials to rely on their opinion. Given the current state of Establishment Clause jurisprudence, the court reasoned, the opinion was reasonable and school officials had acted in a competent manner.
Jock v. Ransom, No. 05-1108 (N.D. N.Y. June 28, 2007)
[Full opinion]