Johnson v. Poway Unified School District

MEMORANDUM

Poway Unified School District and its officials appeal the district court’s award of summary judgment in Bradley Johnson’s favor on claims arising under the California Constitution, article I, sections 2 and 4. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

Poway did not violate Johnson’s rights under the liberty of speech clause of the California Constitution by ordering that he curtail his in-class employee speech. San Leandro Teachers Ass’n v. Governing Bd. of the San Leandro Unified Sch. Dist., 46 Cal.4th 822 , 95 Cal.Rptr.3d 164 , 209 P.3d 73, 87 (2009).

Because Poway’s conduct satisfies Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 612 , 91 S.Ct. 2105 , 29 L.Ed.2d 745 (1971), it also did not violate either the establishment clause or the no preference clause of the California Constitution under the circumstances before us. East Bay Asian Local Dev. Corp. v. State of Cal., 24 Cal.4th 693 , 102 Cal.Rptr.2d 280 , 13 P.3d 1122, 1138 (2000) (“We do not believe, however, that the protection against the establishment of religion embedded in the California Constitution creates broader protections than those of the First Amendment.”); id. at 1139 (“Having concluded…