From Dodge v. Evergreen School Dist. #114, decided today by the Ninth Circuit (Judge Danielle Forrest, joined by Judge Michael Daly Hawkins and Court of International Trade Judge Jane Restani):
The question in this case is whether the First Amendment was violated when a principal told a teacher he could not bring his Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat with him to teacher-only trainings on threat of disciplinary action and when the school board affirmed the denial of the teacher's harassment complaint filed against the principal….
Dodge worked as a teacher for the District for over 17 years. For the 2019–2020 school year, he was assigned to teach at Wy'east Middle School (Wy'east) for the first time, and his class was sixth grade science. The week before school started, Dodge attended a cultural sensitivity and racial bias training held at Wy'east presented by a professor from Washington State University. There were approximately 60 attendees at the training. Dodge wore his MAGA hat up to the front doors of the school and then took it off when he entered the building. During the training, Dodge sat near the back of the room and placed his hat either on the table in front of him or on top of his backpack; he did not wear his hat during the training. [More facts excerpted at the end of the post. -EV] …
Principal Garrett allegedly threatened Dodge with punishment for wearing the MAGA hat, and Garrett sued. The court began by concluding that Dodge's speech was protected, even given the greater deference given to the government restricting the speech of its own employees:
