Court Opinion

ID: 9461567
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:17:47.78872+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:08.045685
License: Public Domain

LUMBARD, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent regarding the relief to which Ms. Burton is entitled.
Reinstatement is the appropriate remedy for an individual who has been removed from her job in violation of the Constitution. Most courts have not treated reinstatement as an “extraordinary equitable remedy.” In fact, they have ordered reinstatement as a matter of course, even in cases involving nontenured teachers. See, e. g., Gieringer v. Central School District No. 58, 477 F.2d 1164 (8th Cir.) (reversing unpublished district court decision), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 832, 94 S.Ct. 165, 38 L.Ed.2d 66 (1973); Fisher v. Snyder, 476 F.2d 375 (8th Cir. 1973), affg. 346 F.Supp. 396 (D.Neb.1972); Rolfe v. County Board of Educ., 391 F.2d 77 (6th Cir. 1968), affg. 282 F.Supp. 192 (E.D.Tenn.1966); Johnson v. Branch, 364 F.2d 177 (4th Cir. 1966) (en banc) (reversing 242 F.Supp. 721 (E.D.N.Car.1965)), cert. denied, 385 *855U.S. 1003, 87 S.Ct. 706, 17 L.Ed.2d 542 (1967); Chase v. Fall Mountain Regional School Dist., 330 F.Supp. 388 (D.N.H. 1971); Hanover Twp. Fedn. of Teachers v. Hanover Community School Corp., 318 F.Supp. 757 (N.D.Ind.1970), affd., 457 F.2d 456 (7th Cir. 1972); McGee v. Richmond Unified School Dist., 306 F.Supp. 1052 (N.D.Cal.1969). Cf. Doherty v. Wilson, 356 F.Supp. 35 (M.D.Ga.1973).
The majority seems to rely on three arguments to uphold the district court’s refusal to reinstate Ms. Burton. First, it emphasizes her lack of tenure which meant that she had no right to a renewal of her teaching contract. This fact alone certainly does not preclude reinstatement, as the cases cited above amply demonstrate. Moreover, Ms. Burton did have some rights under her contract with the school system. Unlike the teacher in Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972), in which the Supreme Court held that a hearing was not required when a school system decided not to renew a non-tenured teacher’s contract, Ms. Burton had the right under Oregon law to demand written reasons for nonrenewal of her contract. Ore.Rev.Stat. § 342.-513(1) (1974). While the school board would have wide discretion in deciding whether to renew Ms. Burton’s contract, the statutory requirement that it provide reasons for nonrenewal precludes it from having completely unfettered discretion since the board could not give a constitutionally unacceptable reason. E. g., Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 598, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 2698, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972) (“[T]he nonrenewal of a nontenured public school teacher’s one-year contract may not be predicated on his exercise of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.”); Board of Regents v. Roth, supra, 408 U.S. at 573-574, 92 S.Ct. at 2707 (certain procedural safeguards are required if state action imposes a “stigma or other disability that foreclose^] • freedom to take advantage of other employment opportunities” or puts a “person’s good name, reputation, honor, or integrity” at stake). Thus it is inaccurate to say that Ms. Burton had no rights beyond the one-year term of her contract. But even if she had no rights, that does not mean that reinstatement is inappropriate; courts have often reinstated non-tenured teachers.1
Second, the majority contends that it was permissible perhaps even appropriate, for the district judge to balance plaintiff’s interest in the vindication of her constitutional rights against the disruption and antagonism her reinstatement would cause.2 I disagree. It is clearly inappropriate to consider community resentment in deciding whether to reinstate a person to a position from which she was unconstitutionally removed. Sterzing v. Fort Bend Independent School Dist., 496 F.2d 92, 93 (5th Cir. 1974) (per curiam) (“Enforcement of constitutional rights frequently has disturbing consequences. Relief is not restricted to that which will be pleasing and free of irritation.”); Langford v. City of Texarkana, 478 F.2d 262, 267-268 (8th Cir. 1973). If community resentment was a legitimate factor to consider, few Southern school districts would have been integrated. One of the major purposes of the Constitution is to protect individuals from the tyranny of the majority. That purpose would be completely subverted if we allowed the feelings of the majority to determine the remedies available to a member of a minority *856group who has been the victim of unconstitutional actions.3
Finally, the majority asserts that the monetary award given to Ms. Burton by the district court is adequate. Once again I disagree. It is questionable whether a monetary award is sufficient to deter the school board from taking similar unconstitutional action in the future. After all, what the board wanted was to be rid of Ms. Burton and the district court judgment allows it to accomplish that. If a similar situation arises in the future it might well conclude that it would be willing to pay a few thousand dollars in order to be rid of an unwanted teacher.
However, the real issue is not whether the remedy imposed here will deter the school board from taking similar action in the future. The real issue is how best to vindicate Ms. Burton’s rights. She had a contract to teach for one year. The only way to restore to her what she lost is to require the school board to reinstate her as a teacher for one year. As the Fifth Circuit noted in Pred v. Board of Public Instruction, 415 F.2d 851, 856 (1969): “The right sought to be vindicated is not a contractual one . . What is at stake is the vindication of constitutional rights . . .” The Fourth Circuit has concluded: “There was no lawful basis for the . discharges, and the plaintiffs are entitled to be restored to the positions they occupied when they attempted to assert their rights. . . . Otherwise they would not be made whole, and similar discriminatory discharges would be encouraged.” Smith v. Hampton Training School for Nurses, 360 F.2d 577, 581 (1966) (en banc), revg. 243 F.Supp. 403 (E.D.Va.1965).
I would remand the case to the district court with instructions that the board be directed to reinstate Ms. Burton for a one-year period at the beginning of the next school year.

. The fact that Ms. Burton was discharged pursuant to an unconstitutional statute and was not discriminated against on racial grounds or was not fired for exercising her First Amendment rights does not mean that she is entitled to a lesser sort of remedy than would be available in racial discrimination or First Amendment cases. All violations of constitutional rights should receive adequate redress, which in this case requires reinstatement.

. The court assumes that there would be disruption and antagonism, but there is no evidence that this would be so. On the contrary, statements made by appellant’s counsel at argument indicate that this would not be so as to the student body.

. The case cited by the majority for the proposition that all circumstances should be weighed to determine whether reinstatement is appropriate, Pred v. Board of Public Instruction, 415 F.2d 851, 859 (5th Cir. 1969), primarily holds that a careful weighing of competing interests is required to determine whether the First Amendment rights of a teacher critical of the school system have been violated when the teacher is discharged. I do not think that it is the view of the Fifth Circuit that a weighing of interests is appropriate in determining a remedy once a constitutional violation has been established. See Sterzing v. Fort Bend Independent School Dist., supra.