No Monetary Damages For Violation Of Connecticut's Free Exercise Clause

Spector v. Board of Trustees of Community-Technical Colleges, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86601 (D CT, Nov. 29, 2006), involves a series of claims by a priest who was a faculty member and coordinator of marketing at Naugatuck Valley Community College. After he was denied an academic promotion, he sued in federal court on a number of bases. As part of a long opinion largely devoted to other issues, the court held that while the Connecticut constitution protects the free exercise of religion, it does not provide a private right of action for money damages for violation of this protection.