Cardiff junior high teacher Staci Barber alleges that her constitutional rights under the Fourteenth and First Amendments were violated. She also alleged violations of the Texas Constitution and the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Barber pursued these allegations in court after an incident within the school. As a member of Cardiff's Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Barber and other club members planned to host an event called See You at the Pole or SYATP. At this event, an annual prayer would commence, and students across the country gather voluntarily to pray together before school at the school’s flagpole. Barber and the club had been hosting this event for three years already and invited staff to join her in prayer at 8am on the day of the event. Barber was under the impression that the student group who would be praying would not arrive until after she and her colleagues finished praying.
After sending those emails, Cardiff Principal Bryan Scott Rounds responded with two emails. The first was to all staff, letting them know that district policy prohibited staff members “from praying with, or in the presence of students”. The second email was directed to Barber and stated that employees strictly cannot pray with or around students, and he also stated that, regardless of the fact that Barber would be praying before the start of school, she would still be on campus and visible to students as an employee. She responded by stating that the invitation was only for staff prior to students arriving, thus not visible to students, and that she and other teachers have done this previously with no students around. Principal Rounds responded by letting Barber know that students are at the gates of school waiting by 8am, and thus their presence while the event is occurring would be a violation of school policies. After receiving said email, Barber proceeded to go through with the event, which resulted in a reprimand from Principal Rounds.
Barber then filed a suit against Katy Independent School District, KISD, and Rounds, “in his individual and official capacity” as a result. In the district court, Rounds asserted qualified immunity regarding federal constitutional claims against him individually. The court granted this motion in regard to her Fourteenth Amendment due process claims and nothing else, but later decided he was not entitled to qualified immunity. The district court concluded that Barber’s complaint plausibly alleged that rounds imposed a “categorical ban on visible religious expression” and that another case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, had previously established the unlawfulness of these restrictions under the First Amendment.
Qualified immunity is granted to government officials and protects them unless their actions in some way violate a clearly established constitutional right that any reasonable official would know. Here, the court has held that Barber's private religious expression outside of her official capacities is protected by the First Amendment's free speech and Free Exercise clause, regardless of whether students observe or not. The Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the district court in part but also reversed it by stating that Rounds was not entitled to qualified immunity on Barber’s First Amendment claims, but he was entitled to qualified immunity on the Fourteenth Amendment claim. Barber’s Fourteenth Amendment claim failed because she was not able to provide proof that the Rounds personally treated her differently or in a discriminatory context.
The decision presented by the Fifth Circuit is one that I agree with completely. I support the decision because it protects Barber’s First Amendment Right while also recognizing the limits of the claims that can be made against government officials relating to constitutional claims. Barber should not have faced restrictions when participating in SYATP, as it was before school and outside of her official duties. Barber and other members were engaging in private religious expression, which is protected under the First Amendment, thus prohibiting her from praying where students may see is an undue burden on her religious expression. A point I found important was the Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, where it was clearly stated that schools cannot restrict personal religious expression simply because there's a chance that students may observe it. Thus, I believe that the court's decision was correctly determined.
Lastly, I think that the Fifth Circuit Court's decision in Barber’s claim of violations of her Fourteenth Amendment was also correctly determined. I believe that the decision serves as a reminder of the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment and the implications it has in court.
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