A recent court ruling has brought closure to a legal battle involving a high school Republican club and Ann Arbor Public Schools. The dispute centered on allegations of free speech violations concerning the use of school announcements.
Federal district judges F. Kay Behm and Curtis Ivey Jr. issued a summary judgment favoring the school district, finding no factual disputes necessitating a jury trial. According to the judges, the facts of the case were straightforward.
The lawsuit began in 2022 when the Republican Club at Skyline High School sought to utilize the school’s morning announcements to express their stance against Proposal 3. The proposal aimed to enshrine reproductive health rights in Michigan’s constitution, which the club opposed. Their proposed announcement read:
Attention Students
Are you interested in joining our efforts to protect the health of women and children by joining us in our fight to defeat Proposal 3?
If proposal 3 is passed it would eliminate health and safety regulations, legalize late term and partial birth abortion, no longer require physicians to perform abortions, and eliminate informed consent laws. If so, email us at skylinerepublicanclub@gmail.com.”
The school administration rejected the announcement, citing policy against using announcements for advocating ballot positions, partly to avoid conflicts with the Michigan Campaign Finance Act. The district offered to collaborate on rewording the message, but the club opted for legal action instead. Their lawsuit claimed unequal policy enforcement, pointing to a women’s rights club as allegedly receiving preferential treatment.
Initially, Judge Paul Borman granted a temporary restraining order allowing a slightly modified announcement without the phrase “join our fight to defeat” to be read before the election. This occurred on November 7, a day before the midterm elections.
Despite the legal tussle, Proposal 3 eventually passed with a significant margin. The court’s final decision in favor of Ann Arbor Public Schools confirmed that policy enforcement was consistent across all student groups.
“The record reflects that the Skyline Republican Club was permitted to submit announcements under the same conditions as any other club, and the single time that Plaintiffs challenge[d] Skyline’s denial of an announcement, Defendants have shown that Skyline gave the same treatment to another group with an opposing political viewpoint on the same issue.”
As of now, no comments have been made by the attorneys involved or by Ann Arbor Public Schools regarding the ruling.
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