Cases

Plaintiff, a seventh-grade student, claimed that a teacher’s use of inaccurate and negative translations of Sharia law to teach a unit on religion to students violated the Establishment Clause.  The district court dismissed the suit, finding that the teacher was entitled to qualified immunity because no clearly established law would have put the teacher on notice that his actions might violate the Establishment Clause. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, agreeing with GMSR’s argument that given the murky nature of Establishment Clause jurisprudence, there was nothing obvious about any alleged constitutional violation here and hence the teacher was entitled to qualified immunity.

Court of Appeals Opinion – View Document