The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a former teacher in Vancouver, Washington, concluding that his wearing a Trump-supporting hat to school was protected speech under the First Amendment.
According to court documents, science teacher Eric Dodge brought the “Make America Great Again” baseball cap to an Evergreen Public Schools building twice before the start of the 2019-2020 school year. According to The Columbian. The first was a cultural sensitivity and racial bias training for staff only.
Caroline Garret, the principal of Wy’east Middle School, allegedly told him to use better judgment. Dodge claimed that after bringing the hat again, he was “verbally attacked” by Garret and other school employees, and that the retaliation violated his First Amendment rights.
The appeals panel concluded in a Dec. 29 ruling that the district failed to demonstrate “tangible disruption” to school operations sufficient to outweigh the teacher’s First Amendment rights.
“That some may not like the political message being conveyed is par for the course and cannot itself be a basis for finding disruption of a kind that outweighs the speaker’s First Amendment rights,” Judge Danielle J. Forrest wrote in the opinion.
There are notable exceptions to the country’s freedom of expression. “There is hate speech and threatening speech,” First Amendment expert and Lewis & Clark Law School dean emeritus Stephen Kanter told The Oregonian/OregonLive, “but a MAGA hat falls far short of that.”
The appeals panel also determined that neither Evergreen Public Schools nor chief human resources officer Janae Gomes took any improper administrative action against Dodge.
The Oregonian/OregonLive was unable to reach Dodge or Garrett for comment.
Michael McFarland, a lawyer for the school district and Gomes, said his clients are pleased with the decision.
Dodge stepped down in 2020.
