In Thorne v. Shelby County Board of Education, Liberty Justice Center is representing a Memphis-area high school principal suing his school district after he was placed on administrative leave for speaking with his students about the importance of free speech.
The following article written by George Leef appeared on National Review on February 28, 2021.
As I have written many, many times, the leftist takeover of American education is almost total. It’s just as bad in schools in “red” states as in “blue” ones.
The latest piece of evidence arises in Shelby County, Tennessee. A high school principal, Barton Thorne, dared to communicate to his students that there is danger in allowing the media to become one-sided. For that, his superiors have placed him on administrative leave, just as if he were a child molester.
You can read the details in this College Fix story.
Principal Thorne has filed suit in federal court against the school district, arguing that it has violated his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the contract between himself and the district. The story has the link to the complaint, which is being handled by the Liberty Justice Center, located in Chicago.
Thorne seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Let’s hope he wins, big. The only bad thing is that the defendants probably won’t have to pay individually for their efforts at silencing him. For such authoritarian actions to stop, zealous school officials will have to know that they’ll pay personally if they act like this.