In Robinson v. Mattawan Consolidated School District, (WD MI, Oct. 22, 2026), a Michigan federal district court dismissed a suit brought by a former school bus driver who was fired for repeatedly distributing candy with religious messages to students as they were exiting her bus. The court said in part:
Plaintiff’s claim ... rests on the premise that she was engaged in “private religious expression,” “not government speech,” because her “nonverbal speech and religious expression occurred after the bus had stopped when the bus driver was a private citizen who was permitted to engage in speech on matters of faith”.... Even accepting as true the factual portion of Plaintiff’s allegations—that she “at all times” distributed candy only after stopping the school bus ...— her alleged facts do not support the legal conclusion that her conduct falls within the realm of protected “private” religious expression....
The operational duties of bus drivers have been evaluated in the Sixth Circuit under constitutional standards applicable to state actors, not private citizens. ...
A school bus driver does not transform from a state actor into a private citizen simply because she stopped her bus to let off a child. Rather, the driver’s status as a public-school employee and the scope of her duties are intact throughout the stop. Indeed, even though the bus is stationary, this phase of its operation—the loading and unloading of children—implicates significant job duties....
Plaintiff alleges that Defendants failed to accommodate proselytizing—“the ability to express her faith respectfully” ... The Court again assumes that proselytizing is her sincerely held religious practice.... But the Court cannot overlook the complete lack of factual content about any accommodation request....
AlterNet reports on the decision.
