In Morgan v. Plano Independent School District, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11557 (ED TX, Feb. 20, 2007), a Texas federal Magistrate Judge issued proposed findings in a case challenging policies in two Plano, Texas elementary schools that prohibit students from distributing invitations and tickets to church events to fellow students and prohibit them from giving fellow students pencils, brownies and candy cane pens with religious messages. The court held that the allegations, if proven, demonstrate that a number of the defendants engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in banning religious viewpoint material while permitting students to distribute secular material to their classmates. The findings recommended the denial of motions to grant qualified immunity to those defendants. (See prior related posting.)
UPDATE: In a later proceeding in the same case at 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60179 (Feb. 27, 2009), the court denied qualified immunity to the school principal who stopped an elementary school student from passing out religious-themed pencils in the cafeteria and outside on school grounds during and after school hours.
