Court Narrows Claims Even More In Plano School "Candy Cane" Case

Earlier this year, in the long-running litigation over Plano, Texas Independent School District rules that, among other things, prevented a student from handing out candy canes with attached religious messages, a federal magistrate judge recommended that three plaintiffs be permitted to go forward, but only with their "as applied" challenge under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act to the school's 2004 (as opposed to its 2005) policy. (See prior posting.) Now in Morgan v. Plano Independent School District, (ED TX, March 30, 2012), a Texas federal district court, reviewing the magistrate's recommendations, accepted them only in part. Instead of allowing three plaintiffs to move ahead with the "as applied" challenge to the 2004 policy, the court permitted only one of the plaintiffs (Jonathan Morgan) to do so. The court held that the other two plaintiffs had failed to give the 60-day advance notice required by TRFRA before filing suit. Courthouse News this week reported on the decision