United States Fifth Circuit

Public school employees have a protected right to educate their children in a private school, and grant of qualified immunity in an action alleging denial of an employment position is reversed where no reasonable school official could conclude that application of the school district's public-school patronage policy to plaintiff was constitutional. (Revised opinion)

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/02/2003
• Published 06/17/2003

Judges

• REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:, Before KING, Chief Judge, and REAVLEY and STEWART, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• William Charles Bundren (argued), Wm. Charles Bundren & Associates, Frisco, TX, Kelly J. Shackelford, Liberty Legal Institute, Plano, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant., Robert Freedman, Institute for Justice, Washington, DC, for Institute for Justice and Council for Am. Private Educ., Amici Curiae., Gregory S. Baylor, Christian Legal Soc., Ctr. for Law & Religious Freedom, Annandale, VA, for Christian Legal Soc., Christian Educators Ass'n Intern. and Ethics and Religious Liberty Com'n, Amici Curiae., Steven W. Fitschen, Nat. Legal Foundation, Virginia Beach, VA, for National Legal Foundation, Amicus Curiae., Eric W. Schulze, Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Schulze & Aldridge, Austin, TX, for Texas Ass'n of Sch. Boards Legal Assistance Fund, Amicus Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Thomas Phillip Brandt (argued), Robert Harris Fugate, Stephen Douglas Henninger, Nellie Gomez Hooper, Fanning, Harper & Martinson, Dallas, TX, for Defendant-Appellee.