Harper

MEMORANDUM **

Chase and Kelsie Harper (“the Har-pers”) appeal the district court’s denial of their facial constitutional and state law challenges to the dress code and hate behavior policies that were in place during their time as high school students in the Poway Unified School District (“Poway” or “the School”).

We cannot adjudicate the Harpers’ claims for equitable and declaratory relief because they are moot. Both Chase and Kelsie Harper have graduated from Poway High School, and the School’s speech policies were significantly amended in February of 2008. 1 Equitable relief, therefore, would be ineffective. See Village of Gambell v. Babbitt, 999 F.2d 403, 406 (9th Cir.1993). Because Cal. Educ.Code § 48950 provides only for injunctive and declaratory relief, the state law claim is moot, as well.

The only issue remaining, then, is the claim for nominal damages against the defendants in their individual capacities. Under these rather unusual circumstances, in which we are asked to award nominal damages on the basis of a school policy that is no longer in existence, we decline to reach the difficult substantive constitutional question at issue. Instead, we agree with the…