CTA's 2nd Brief & Response to Plaintiff's 1st Brief - National Center ...

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Case: 09-56689 07/26/2010 Page: 12 of 80 ID: 7418245 DktEntry: 45-1 INTRODUCTION Chad Farnan, the young man who brought this lawsuit against his AP European History teacher and School District, has now graduated high school. However, his lawsuit would have the federal judiciary return to high school and begin policing teachers' stray remarks. Farnan seeks judicial review, not of a particular policy or curriculum determination by a governing board, but of disparate comments made by a teacher for signs of suspected "hostility" toward religious beliefs and Farnan's political positions. This suit appears to be part of a campaign by religious groups who want "balance" in the public school classroom between scientific and historical fact and their world views derived from faith and religious texts. Such groups have failed in the courts to prohibit the teaching of evolutionary science, and have failed to impose "creation science" into public school curricula. Plaintiff here seeks to undermine the teaching of historical facts, sociological data and scientific reasoning in a pedagogical manner he considers offensive. It is because of provocative, passionate, and committed educators like Defendant Dr. Corbett that the transformative and liberating promise of public education remains alive. Without their provocations and daily engagement with students on various issues, education ceases to prepare a new generation of citizens for the difficult road ahead. A skilled and dedicated teacher such as Dr. Corbett
encourages students to test their ideas and unexamined assumptions to help students build a solid foundation for their beliefs, not to shake their faith. California Teachers Association and Capistrano Unified Education Association ("Union Intervenors") intervened to oppose Plaintiffs claim partially out of concern that the case was an unwarranted attack on academic freedom, which could create a significant chilling effect on teachers charged with preparing students to become productive citizens in a diverse society. Union Intervenors are confident the Court will find that Dr. Corbett's statements are ones imbued with a secular purpose of mastering the material needed to pass the Advanced Placement test in European History; would be understood by a reasonable and informed person to have primarily a secular effect; and would not create excessive entanglement with religion. Further, the District Court correctly ruled that Defendants could amend their answer to plead qualified immunity for Dr. Corbett; correctly ruled that Dr. Corbett had qualified immunity for making the one comment that the District Court found to violate the Establishment Clause; and correctly ruled that declaratory relief was not warranted. Case: 09-56689 07/26/2010 Page: 13 of 80 ID: 7418245 DktEntry: 45-1 The District Court erred, however, by finding that Dr. Corbett violated the Establishment Clause when Dr. Corbett, in response to a student question about another teacher's lawsuit, recounted to students that he had told an attorney, "I will
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Judicial treatment of qualified imm
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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE I certify
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