Time to move on — 04/11/08

April 10, 2008 05:05 pm

— Shortly after the Sixth District U.S. Court of Appeals last October overturned a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning dismissing a suit filed by Boyd County High School senior Timothy Morrison, we wrote: “(A)t this point, it is difficult to see what can be gained by pursuing this case further.”
In a 2-1 decision announced Tuesday, the Sixth District Court of Appeals agreed with that view, rejecting an appeal filed in the lawsuit and, one would hope, bringing an end to legal actions that grew out of the formation of a now-defunct Gay-Straight Alliance at Boyd County High.
Judge Deborah L. Cook, who dissented in the October decision overturning Bunning’s dismissal of the suit, was joined by Judge John R. Adams in the latest ruling.
“This case should be over,” Cook wrote. “Allowing it to proceed to determine the constitutionality of an abandoned policy — in the hope of awarding the plaintiff a single dollar — vindicates no interest and trivializes the important business of the federal courts.”
We agree, but then we agreed with Cook’s minority view last October, when she called Morrison’s lawsuit “a case about nothing.”
Morrison claimed the high school’s policy on harassing speech violated his freedom of speech and prevented him from freely practicing his religion. At the time, the suit was filed that may been true. After all, even the attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union agree the original policy was too restrictive and violated free speech rights.
But Morrison was never disciplined for violating the policy — or even accused of violating it. Thus, the appeals court said Morrison failed to show he was harmed by the policy.
As we wrote last October, Morrison has made his point. His lawsuit led to a much better policy than the one he challenged. Students should have an absolute right to share their personal views on religion, politics and other subjects in conversations with other students and, in some cases, in classroom discussions. But no student should be subject to harassment or intimidation for any reason.
We concluded our editorial published Oct. 30, 2007, by writing: “The entire battle over the GSA has been a difficult one for the Boyd County School System, but the school system has gotten past that ugly chapter, learned from it, and become a district that is more tolerant of all students. Pursuing this suit further would only needlessly prolong this controversy.”
The ruling announced Tuesday should be the final word on this matter. It is past time to move on.