ACLJ Files Federal Suit Against Texas School District Over E-Mail Policy That Prohibits Religious Messages.

Business Editors & Legal Writers

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 2002

At Issue: E-Mail Message That Included President

Bush's Proclamation On National Day of Prayer

The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, today filed a federal lawsuit against a school district in Dallas, Texas challenging a policy that prohibits employees from using e-mail to communicate religious messages after targeting a school employee who sent a private message which included a Proclamation by President Bush concerning the National Day of Prayer.

"The school district has a communications policy that discriminates against religious speech," said Stuart J. Roth, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ, which filed the suit. "The law is clear: if a school district permits employees to communicate a wide variety of both work related and private messages, it cannot prohibit a message from being communicated because its content is religious in nature. The policy in place is not only discriminatory but unconstitutional as well."

The ACLJ filed suit today in U.S. District Court in Dallas on behalf of LaDonna DeVore, a resident of Mesquite, Texas who works in the administration offices of the Highland Park Independent School District in Dallas.

The school district has a communications policy that prohibits "religious worship" or "proselytizing" and the suit contends that the school district used the policy to censure DeVore after she sent a private e-mail that included mention of the National Day of Prayer and President Bush's remarks supporting the event.

The suit contends that DeVore was told her April 30, 2002 e-mail was inappropriate and was warned by school officials that further use of the e-mail system to communicate religious messages could result in suspension of her e-mail privileges. The school district permits employees to use the e-mail system to communicate both work related and private messages, according to the complaint, and routinely permits e-mail messages that include jokes, chain messages, invitations to events, exhortations to encourage others, and messages with religious themes.

"The actions and policy of this school district unfairly single out the religious message for exclusion," said Roth. "The policy chills protected speech and places our client in an awkward position of not being able to communicate openly and freely for fear of repercussions from the school district. We're confident that the court will uphold the constitutional rights of our client."

The suit contends that the policy violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and names as defendant the Highland Park Independent School District. The suit requests that the court find the policy and actions of the school district unconstitutional and requests an injunction to prohibit the school district from continuing to enforce the policy.

The American Center for Law and Justice is an international public interest law firm specializing in constitutional law. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and the web site address is www.aclj.org.