Recently in Civil Rights Law Category

Halloween and other holiday sex-offender restriction laws are a growing trend amongst that states, but at least in Missouri, the law will have a limited reach. After the Missouri State Supreme Court weighed in on the matter, anyone convicted before the law was passed in 2008 cannot be prosecuted for violating the law’s restrictions, which include not celebrating Halloween, turning out the lights for that evening, and posting a “No Candy” sign at the registered sex offender’s residence.

The plaintiffs-appellees in this Eighth Circuit case are not the defendants in the Missouri case, but they did have the same objective: to strike down the law. They sought an injunction to prevent enforcement immediately after the law was passed, and it was granted — days before Halloween. Unfortunately for them, the Eighth Circuit stayed the injunction, and Halloween proceeded, with sex offender restrictions in place.

CM was in class when the drug dogs showed up. Along with his classmates, he was instructed to leave the classroom and his belongings for five minutes. When he returned, he claimed that he “felt like the pockets [of his backpack] had been unzipped and stuff.”

The police were not there for him, nor for any other specific person. They were conducting random searches. Central High School of Springfield, Missouri had been experiencing a bit of a drug problem and the solution devised by the administration was to invite the K-9 Cops. The found nothing and left.

CM, and his parents, sued for the unreasonable seizure of his belongings during the five minute search.

Travis Folkerts is a mentally impaired man with an IQ of 50. In 2008, he was living on his own, with supervision during most waking hours. In May of that year, a neighbor reported that Travis had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with her underage son.

The initial responding officer, knowing of Travis’ limitations, read him his Miranda rights and asked him a few questions, resulting in an “Information Only” report to Officer Schneider, who followed up one day later.

Schneider again read Travis his rights and more fully explained them. Though he was aware of Travis’ impairment, he was not aware of its full extent and believed that Travis understood him. The two then headed to the police station, where Travis was interrogated in a conference room instead of the traditional, more intimidating interview room.

Michael Argenyi has a serious hearing impairment. He’s also a medical student at Creighton Medical School in Omaha, Nebraska. Before medical school, he handled academics like a boss. His undergraduate GPA was a 3.87.

What was the secret to his success? Besides the obvious factors, like intelligence and hard work, he received reasonable accommodations to facilitate his education. Beginning in eighth grade, he began using Communication Access Real-time Transcription (CART), a system that transcribes the speaker’s words and displays them on a computer screen.

FAPE. It’s not an urban clothing brand. It’s a Free Appropriate Public Education. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), school districts have to provide a FAPE to special needs children using an annually revised Individualized Education Plan (IEP) tailored to the child’s unique needs. If they are unable to do so, the parents can enroll the child in another facility at the district’s cost.

L.M. was diagnosed with autism at a young age. Despite his special needs, he managed to meet or exceed his school district’s academic standards for first grade. In second grade, his academic achievement continued, albeit with an increase in behavioral problems. The following year, he still met most academic milestones, but this behavior continued to worsen.

Things that we learned from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals this week:

1. You can get a degree in funeral science.
2. Your Facebook status could be cause for termination from a funeral science teaching gig.
3. The school that fires you for your Facebook status might be entitled to qualified immunity.

Arthur Gallagher is a Clayton, Missouri resident who regularly uses the city's parks and "ecstatically enjoys smoking tobacco products while doing so." Sadly for Gallagher, the Clayton Board of Aldermen enacted an ordinance prohibiting smoking "in or on any property or premises owned or leased for use by the City of Clayton, including buildings, grounds, parks, [and] playgrounds."

The ordinance established several exceptions, including allowing outdoor smoking on "streets, alleys, rights of way and sidewalks other than sidewalks and pedestrian paths in parks," but gave the City Manager discretion to prohibit smoking in these areas during "community events, fairs, festivals, neighborhood events and similar public gatherings."

So much for Gallagher's unbridled nicotine-driven ecstasy.

Lee's Summit North High School suspended twin brothers Sean and Steven Wilson for 180 days after a website they created to discuss, satirize, and "vent" about events at the school went semi-viral and disrupted school. The school was peeved because the blog contained several racist and sexist comments, including sexist remarks about named female students, Ed Week reports. The Wilson brothers reportedly created the posts, though a separate racist comment was allegedly posted by a third student.

The Wilsons, then juniors, were allowed to enroll at Summit Ridge Academy during their suspension. They sued the school district, claiming that the suspension violated their free speech rights, and that they would suffer irreparable harm at Summit Ridge. (Lee's Summit had honors courses and band. Summit Ridge did not.)

Last year, a three-judge Eighth Circuit panel ruled that Manchester, Missouri could not enforce a local ordinance banning protests near funerals.

The ordinance, of course, was adopted to stop the controversial Westboro Baptist Church protestors from further upsetting grieving families at military funerals.

Tuesday, the en banc Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the panel, ruling that the final version of the Manchester ordinance — which prohibits “picketing or other protest activities …within 300 feet of any funeral or burial site during or within one hour … of a funeral or burial service” — is a legitimate time, place, and manner regulation consistent with the First Amendment.

Douglas Duane Bahl sued the City of St. Paul under the anti-discrimination provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, §504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Minnesota Human Rights Act, after a traffic stop turned into a scuffle that turned into a hospital visit and an arrest.

Bahl, who is deaf and uses American Sign Language (ASL) as his primary language, claimed that the entire unpleasant ordeal should have been avoided because St. Paul cops were required to communicate with him in writing or through an interpreter. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals mostly disagreed.