Opinion ID: 2733752
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: due process and injunctive relief claims

Text: The students further challenge the District’s dress code, which prohibits clothing that “indicate[s] gang affiliation, create[s] a safety hazard, or disrupt[s] school activities.” They seek to permanently enjoin the use of the dress code, claiming that it fails to provide objective standards by which to referee student attire, in violation of the Due Process Clause.9 We reject the students’ due process claims. The Supreme Court has “recognized that maintaining security and order in the schools requires a certain degree of flexibility in school disciplinary procedures,” and has thus specified that, “[g]iven the school’s need to be able to impose disciplinary sanctions for a wide range of unanticipated conduct disruptive of the educational process, the school disciplinary rules need not be as detailed as a criminal code . . . . ” Bethel Sch. Dist., 478 U.S. at 686 (holding that a school had not violated a student’s due process rights by disciplining him for lewd speech under a policy prohibiting “obscene” speech). 9 Although the District is not a party to this appeal, we consider the students’ dress code claims because they brought suit against Rodriguez in his official capacity. DARIANO V. MORGAN HILL UNIFIED SCH. DIST. 35 The District’s dress code is in line with others that the federal courts have held to be permissible. See, e.g., Hardwick ex rel. Hardwick v. Heyward, 711 F.3d 426, 441, 444 (4th Cir. 2013) (upholding code prohibiting “disrupt[ive]” or “offensive” clothing, including clothing that “distract[s]” or “interfere[s]”), cert. denied, 134 S. Ct. 201 (2013); A.M. ex rel. McAllum v. Cash, 585 F.3d 214, 224 (5th Cir. 2009) (upholding code prohibiting clothing with “inappropriate symbolism”). Significantly, the dress code challenged here incorporates the standards sanctioned in Tinker: safety and disruption. See B.W.A. v. Farmington R-7 Sch. Dist., 508 F. Supp. 2d 740, 750–51 (E.D. Mo. 2007) (holding that a dress code that contains language that “tracks Tinker” poses “no real danger” of compromising the First Amendment rights of students), aff'd 554 F.3d 734 (8th Cir. 2009); see also Hardwick, 711 F.3d at 441. It would be unreasonable to require a dress code to anticipate every scenario that might pose a safety risk to students or that might substantially disrupt school activities. Dress codes are not, nor should they be, a school version of the Code of Federal Regulations. It would be equally unreasonable to hold that school officials could not, at a minimum, rely upon the language Tinker gives them. We affirm the district court’s holding that the policy is not unconstitutionally vague and does not violate the students’ right to due process. AFFIRMED.