Court Opinion

ID: 9816921
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 03:42:33.856254+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:53.026050
License: Public Domain

WOLLE, District Judge,
dissenting.
In my view, Adam Henerey’s First Amendment claim deserved a better fate than summary judgment. Genuinely disputed factual issues, decided in his favor, might well have resulted in a jury verdict granting him some relief in money damages from one or more of the defendants who disallowed his election as junior class president of St. Charles High School.
I focus on the reason that the school principal gave for disqualifying Henerey from holding his elected office, a reason this record discloses may have been a pretext for censoring the content of his safe-sex message. Henerey had obtained advance approval of his campaign slogan— “Adam Henerey, The Safe Choice.” On the date of the election, he offered to hand out campaign stickers with about twenty condoms to any student who requested one. The principal’s only stated reason to disqualify Henerey was his failure to comply with School Board Rule KJ-R, quoted in part in the majority opinion. That rule, entitled, “ADVERTISING IN THE SCHOOLS”, may have given inadequate notice to students that materials Henerey wished to distribute might need advance approval while candy and buttons other candidates were handing out would not need advance approval. Arguably the rule also failed to give Henerey adequate notice that handing out his materials might cause disqualification from serving in the elective office he sought.
I believe jurors, drawing reasonable inferences from the evidence, could find that the school principal and other administrators applied the Rule KJ-R to Henerey and not others only when they realized that Henerey’s message connoted prevention of sexual diseases by use of such protective devices as condoms. From the principal’s approval of materials like candy and buttons distributed by other candi*1137dates and refusal to allow Henerey’s materials, a jury could well decide it was the message and not the approval process that cost Henerey his junior class presidency. Reasonable jurors could also conclude that disqualification was a punishment disproportionate to Henerey’s failure to receive specific advance approval to distribute his materials to students requesting them.
I disagree with the suggestion that safe sex among high school students is such a controversial topic that school officials may squelch its discussion in a school-sponsored school election contest.
I therefore respectfully dissent from the summary rejection of Adam Henerey’s First Amendment claim.