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Hempstead Long Island N.Y. Schools Superintendent Shimon Waronker.
Credit: Jeffrey Basinger, Newsday
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Many readers, like myself, of the case of Shimon Waronker believe that the decision of the Supreme Court is a denial of free speech under the First Amendment.
Leagle.com:
Summary:
The case detailed below involves Shimon Waronker, the superintendent of the Hempstead Union Free School District on Long Island. He was hired in 2017 to reform a district plagued by academic difficulties and corruption, court papers say.
Waronker hired investigators and a forensic accounting firm to root out corruption in the district, and he reported some findings to law enforcement. The school board placed him on administrative leave without pay in January 2018.
Waronker sued, alleging violations of his First Amendment free speech rights, 14th Amendment due-process rights, and of state whistleblower laws. He lost in a federal district court and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in New York City, which both held that the superintendent's speech about school operations was part of his official duties and thus not protected under the First Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the appeal of a school superintendent in New York state who alleges he was fired for reporting corruption in his new district to law enforcement as he was required to do.
Also, over the dissent of two justices, the high court also declined to hear the case of an individual who was blocked from suing the U.S. Department of Education for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
The actions came on a busy day of orders and opinions for the court, which is soldiering on with its docket amid the contstraints of the coronavirus pandemic. The court has set May 11 as the date it will hear telephone arguments in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (Case No. 19-267), about whether religious schools are exempt from civil rights laws for employment decisions involving lay teachers.
The denial in the New York state case involved Shimon Waronker, who was hired as the superintendent of the Hempstead Union Free School District on Long Island in 2017 to reform a district plagued by academic difficulties and corruption, court papers say.
Waronker hired investigators and a forensic accounting firm to root out corruption in the district, and he reported some findings to law enforcement. The school board placed him on administrative leave without pay in January 2018.
Waronker sued, alleging violations of his First Amendment free speech rights, 14th Amendment due-process rights, and of state whistleblower laws. He lost in a federal district court and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in New York City, which both held that the superintendent's speech about school operations was part of his official duties and thus not protected under the First Amendment.
The former superintendent's appeal in Waronker v. Hempstead Union Free School District (No. 19-893) argued that the 2nd Circuit's decision conflicted with a 2014 Supreme Court ruling, Lane v. Franks , which held that a public employee's truthful testimony in court subject to a subpoena was protected speech.
"Waronker was obligated by law to expose the corruption he saw in his school district," says the former superintendent's brief. "If a superintendent of schools sees illegal corruption and does not report it to law enforcement, he has breached his fiduciary duty and may well be an accessory after the fact."
The school district, in a brief urging the court not to take up the case, said that part of the superintendent's job duties were to communicate with outside agencies, and that his communications were not like the compelled testimony at issue in Lane.
"This case is a poor vehicle to provide more general guidance on the question of when speech that exposes corruption may be protected by the First Amendment," the district's brief said.
The justices declined Waronker's appeal without comment.
Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru
Consolidated with:
| Docket No. | Op. Below | Argument | Opinion | Vote | Author | Term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19-267 | 9th Cir. | May 11, 2020 Tr.Aud. | TBD | TBD | TBD | OT 2019 |
Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is counsel on an amicus brief in support of the respondent in this case.
Issue: Whether the First Amendment's religion clauses prevent civil courts from adjudicating employment-discrimination claims brought by an employee against her religious employer, when the employee carried out important religious functions.
SCOTUSblog Coverage
- Educational seminar: Debrief of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (Katie Bart)
- Argument analysis: Justices divided in debate over “ministerial exception” (Amy Howe)
- Educational seminar: Preview of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (Katie Bart)
- Argument preview: Justices to consider what makes a minister a minister (Corrected) (Amy Howe)
- Event announcement: SCOTUSblog oral argument seminars (Updated) (Kalvis Golde)
- Court sets cases for May telephone arguments, will make live audio available (Amy Howe)
- Justices postpone March argument session (Amy Howe)
- Justices issue March argument calendar (Amy Howe)
- Court fills out spring calendar with new grants (Amy Howe)
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