While a bit dated (story from Columbus Ga Ledger-Enquirer), there appeared on LEXIS for the first time today two opinions handed down April 28 in the case of University of Georgia cheerleading coordinator Mari Louise Braswell.
Braswell and her husband, a Christian minister, conducted Bible study classes in their home that were attended by members of the cheerleading squad. Two Jewish cheerleaders claimed that Braswell used her position to encourage students to adopt certain religious practices and that she treated non-Christian cheerleaders unfavorably. As a result of a formal complaint by one of them, the University placed Braswell on administrative probation, requiring her to eliminate the religious overtones in her program. The University also gave the complaining student an extra year to cheer and placed her on the football cheerleading squad without a tryout.
After Braswell read a public statement complaining about the handling of the complaint, the University fired her. In Braswell v. Board of Regents of the Univ System of Ga., 369 F.Supp.2d 1362 (DC ND GA, April 28, 2005), a federal district court refused to issue a preliminary injunction against the University finding that Braswell was unlikely to succeed on her free exercise of religion, free speech, equal protection and due process claims.
In a second opinion with the same caption, reported at 369 F. Supp.2d 1371, the court dismissed the damage claims against various defendants, finding 11th Amendment immunity or qualified immunity. However it permitted Braswell to proceed with her claim for reinstatement, even though it had found that it is unlikely that she will succeed on the merits.
