Student's Religious Speech Right Upheld, But No Relief Granted

In an interesting case decided two weeks ago by a Michigan federal district court, parents of a fifth-grade student in Saginaw, Michigan succeeded in proving that their son's religious speech was improperly limited by public school officials, but a combination of qualified immunity and mootness (since the student was no longer enrolled at the school) precluded plaintiffs from either recovering damages or obtaining injunctive and declaratory relief. In Curry v. School District of Saginaw, (ED MI, Sept. 18, 2006), students were required to take part in a "Classroom City Project", in which they constructed a fictitious city in the gymnasium from cardboard refrigerator boxes, elected city officials, constructed storefronts and made products to sell during a three-day event.

Student Joel Curry, largely inspired by his parents' suggestions, created candy cane ornaments from pipe cleaner as his product. He attached a card to the ornaments giving them a religious interpretation. While Joel received an "A" for his performance (a grade that the court described as a generous one for his parents' efforts), the school principal told Joel that he could not sell his product with the religious message attached. The court decided that this limitation improperly restricted the student's rights of expression (though not his free exercise rights). In reaching this conclusion, the court wrote:

The lessons Classroom City was designed to teach presumably included economics, marketing, civics, and entrepreneurialism. Standing alone, the candy canes with a religious card attached met those ostensible goals.... In fact, a religious theme might be viewed as filling a market niche. Joel would not be the first to discover the commercial allure that religion has brought to capitalism. It appears that he learned that lesson well by ascribing a religious -- albeit unoriginal and inaccurate -- aura to an historically secular object to enhance its marketability.