Opinion ID: 2974124
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Effect of Lillard

Text: The majority finds that Lillard v. Shelby County, 76 F.3d 716 (6th Cir. 1996), is controlling and thus that the issue of whether Title IX supplants an equal protection claim brought pursuant to § 1983 has already been decided. Yet, the majority fails to distinguish the type of claims brought pursuant to § 1983. In Lillard, the issue was not whether Title IX precluded an equal protection claim, but whether it precluded a substantive due process claim. Lillard was a sexual harassment case. This case is one of sexual discrimination. In Lillard the issue was whether Title IX precluded substantive due process claims brought pursuant to § 1983. In this case, the issue is whether Title IX precludes equal protection claims brought pursuant to § 1983. This is a key difference and one deserving of a separate analysis. As explained by one scholar: A victim of sexual harassment by a teacher would have several constitutional Section 1983 claims against the teacher and the school district. She might bring claims based on: (1) the Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, alleging a denial of a fair hearing in which to bring her complaint; (2) the liberty interest in bodily integrity under the substantive due process right in the Fourteenth Amendment; and (3) the right under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex. Because Title IX confers on plaintiffs a right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex, the plaintiff's third Constitutionbased Section 1983 claim is “virtually identical” to the right conferred by Title IX... A court confronted with these remaining Constitution-based Section 1983 claims must determine whether either claim is virtually identical to the right under Title IX against discrimination on the basis of sex...[N]either procedural nor substantive due process rights are identical to, or even virtually identical to, rights under Title IX, which affords protection against discrimination on the basis of sex. Consequently, if a plaintiff brings procedural and substantive due process claims under Section 1983, those claims would not be precluded by Title IX, for they do not satisfy the first prong of the Smith test. Zwibelman, Michael, WHY TITLE IX DOES NOT PRECLUDE SECTION 1983 CLAIMS, 65 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1465, 1479 (Fall 1998); see also Burke, Beth, TO PRECLUDE OR NOT TO PRECLUDE, 78 Wash. U. L.Q. 1487, 1512 (noting that some courts fail to apply properly the “virtually identical” prong of the Smith test by “combin[ ing] all the alleged constitutional violations without analyzing each No. 02-1127 Communities for Equity v. Michigan Page 21 High School Athletic Ass’n claim separately under the Smith test”). While this is just one scholar’s view regarding which type of constitutional claims should be precluded, it demonstrates the problem: this circuit has previously determined that due process claims are not “virtually identical” to Title IX claims, but we have not yet held that equal protection claims are not “virtually identical” to Title IX claims. I believe we are required to do such a separate analysis under the Supreme Court’s decision in Smith v. Robinson. 468 U.S. 992 (1984). In Smith, the petitioners alleged violations of the Education of the Handicapped Act (“EHA”) and of both equal protection and due process. Tellingly, the Court did not combine the alleged due process and equal protection violations in its discussion of preclusion; rather, the Court was prepared to analyze each claim separately. The Court first found that EHA claims were virtually identical to the claims brought under the Equal Protection Clause and that Congress intended that equal protection claims be precluded. Next, the Court was prepared to separately address “whether the procedural safeguards set out in the EHA manifest Congress’ intent to preclude resort to § 1983 on a due process challenge.” Id. at 1013-1014. However, the Court found such analysis “unnecessary” because, even if the petitioners could maintain a due process challenge, they were not entitled to attorney’s fees. The opinion in Smith illustrated that for each constitutional claim, a court must engage in a separate analysis of whether that claim, provided for by a statutory remedy, is precluded from being brought under § 1983, another statutory remedy. Even though Lillard addressed the preclusion of different right, the majority holds we are bound by it. I see several problems with not addressing the precise issue before us. First, it contradicts the procedure set forth by the Court in Smith. For, if finding what Congress intended with respect to one constitutional claim - say equal protection - is enough to find what Congress intended with respect to all constitutional claims, then why was the Court prepared to do two separate analyses?1 In other words, if the majority’s position is correct, that a holding that Congress did not intend a statute to be the “exclusive avenue” for bringing one type of constitutional claim applies to all constitutional claims brought pursuant to § 1983, then, according to the majority, the Supreme Court was prepared to engage in a meaningless exercise of addressing whether “the procedural safeguards set out in the EHA manifest Congress’ intent to preclude resort to § 1983 on a due process challenge.” Id. According to the majority view, the Court had already decided this issue when it discussed what Congress intended with respect to equal protection claims. Secondly, to say that what Congress intended with respect to one type of constitutional claim is what Congress meant with respect to all, is an overly-simplistic justification for the majority’s decision. When ascertaining Congress’ intent, I believe we have to do so with the precise rights in mind. I do not think one can assume that simply because Congress did not intend to preclude substantive due process claims, it did not intend to preclude equal protection claims. It seems clear to me that Congress could intend to preclude one type of constitutional claim, by providing a statutory remedy for it, but not others. 1 The majority answers this question by acknowledging that the Smith Court “did in fact contemplate two separate analyses,” but by reasoning that a separate analysis was warranted in Smith - and not in this case - because there was a “clear textual indication” in the EHA that Congress intended for that statute to preclude equal protection claims brought pursuant to § 1983. Op. at 9. By distinguishing Smith in this way, the majority is treating implied rights as second-class rights as they are undeserving of a separate analysis. The Court has not indicated in either Smith or Sea Clammers that implied rights are to be treated differently than express and I decline to do so here. For, as I explain later, once we include the implied rights to bring individual actions, including damages, as what Congress intended and read Title IX to so provide, Congress has provided a statutory remedy for gender-based equal protection claims so that § 1983 is not available for equal protection actions. No. 02-1127 Communities for Equity v. Michigan Page 22 High School Athletic Ass’n In Lillard this court found the claims at issue were not “virtually identical” to those provided in Title IX. Lillard, 76 F.3d at 723. I agree, as the plaintiff in Lillard alleged sexual harassment and Title IX was designed to target gender discrimination. While I recognize the court in Lillard summarily concluded these claims were not “virtually identical,” that does not take away from the fact that because the claims were so different, there is further reason to assume Congress did not intend to preclude the use of § 1983. Similarly, where the claims are “virtually identical,” as I believe they are in this case, there seems to me more reason to assume Congress intended to preclude use of § 1983 to enforce those claims. Thus, when a court finds the first part of the Smith test is not satisfied (are the claims virtually identical), the answer to the second (did Congress intend that the statute supplant the constitutional claims), seems obvious. It only makes sense to conclude that when a constitutional claim is not virtually identical to the statutory claim, Congress did not intend to preclude the former. Third, it is important to point out that the court in Lillard did not indicate its holding was to be extended to the preclusion of rights other than substantive due process. The court in Lillard concluded that the rights were not “virtually identical” but then went on to discuss, at length, congressional intent. The court reasoned that because the private right of action found in Title IX was implied, rather than express, Congress did not intend to preclude due process claims when it enacted Title IX. There was no indication that this logic regarding implied rights was meant to extend to other constitutional rights beyond substantive due process. The court limited its finding, stating, “the National Sea Clammers doctrine presents no impediment to the plaintiffs’ pursuit of remedies for alleged violations of substantive due process.” Lillard, 76 F.3d at 724 (emphasis added). More importantly, the court indicated its finding regarding congressional intent was dicta, concluding that, “even if the defendants’ argument had been directed at an attempt by the plaintiffs to enforce their Title IX rights, rather than their constitutional rights, through section 1983, National Sea Clammers would have provided no support.” Lillard, 76 F.3d at 723 (emphasis added).2 For the foregoing reasons, I believe that we need to engage in a separate analysis as required by the Supreme Court in Smith and that we must address this issue as one of first impression in this circuit.