Supreme Court Stories
North Haven Board of Ed v. Bell, 456 U.S. 512 (1982).
A teacher filed a complaint of sexual discrimination when she was not rehired after her pregnancy leave. The Department of Education asked the school to submit its hiring, security and tenure practices. Feeling the government was overstepping its bounds, the school refused. The U.S. Supreme court upheld Title IX regulations that prohibited sex discrimination in employment. http://supreme.justia.COM/US/456/512employment
Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U.S. 512 (1984)
Grove City College sought to preserve its institutional autonomy by refusing federal financial assistance, but its students did receive federal financial aid that they then used to attend the college. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funds. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the student financial aid constituted indirect federal funds received by the college, but since those funds went only the financial aid program, that was the only part of the college covered by Title IX. The impact of this decision was to exclude athletics programs from Title IX coverage since they don’t ordinarily receive federal funds. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=465&invol=555
The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, 102. Stat. 28 (1988)
Overturned Grove City College v. Bell and held that once any part of an institution receives federal funds, the entire institution is covered by Title IX. The Act, which became law after Congress overrode a veto by President Ronald Reagan, restored Title IX’s coverage to athletics programs.
Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools, 503 U.S. 60 (1992)
Franklin, a high school student, filed an action for damages alleging that she had been subjected to continual sexual harassment and abuse by a teacher. The teacher resigned on the condition that all matters pending against him be dropped, and the school closed its investigation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that plaintiffs filing Title IX lawsuits are entitled to receive money damages in cases of intentional discrimination. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=503&invol=60
Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, 526 U.S. 629 (1999)
Fifth grader La Shonda Davis’s family filed a suit after she was sexually harassed by a fellow student, creating an intimidating, hostile, offensive and abusive school environment. The Davis family notified the school and repeatedly requested that the school remedy the situation, but the school did nothing. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a school is liable under Title IX for student-to-student harassment that deprives the harassed student of access to educational opportunities, if the school has notice of the harassment and is deliberately indifferent to it. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=97-843
Jackson v, Birmingham Board of Education, 544 U.S. 167 (2005).
Roderick Jackson, a teacher and high school basketball coach, filed a suit after being fired from his coaching position when he complained that his girls’ basketball team was receiving inferior treatment. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that retaliation is prohibited under Title IX and that an ‘indirect victim of sex discrimination could bring a Title IX case against a school that retaliates against him because he complained of sex discrimination.” http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-1672.ZS.html