The Lawsuit

The legal question:

Can a school district & superintendent retaliate against and violate a school board member's First Amendment rights, on the basis of that school board member posting a political meme in a political context, on a private forum, on his own time, in his capacity as a private citizen, and unrelated to the school district or his duties as a board member?

​Court filings (PDF):

1) Complaint (Detschelt v. Norwin School District and Jeffrey M. Taylor; filed 8/4/2023)

2) Defendant's Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss

3) Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss

4) Defendant's Reply Brief to Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss

5) Motion of Defendants for Leave to File Supplemental Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss

As an attorney, this is one of the most ridiculous filings I have seen. The Defendants are informing the court of my posting on this website that "I will continue my lawsuit against the District and the superintendent because I know it is the right thing to do." Heaven forbid that I -AGAIN- exert by First Amendment rights!

6) Supplemental Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss

I take back what I just said. THIS is the most ridiculous filing I have seen. What do my political comments about my thoughts on the election on this website have ANYTHING to do with the District and Dr. Taylor retaliating against me and infringing on my First Amendment rights over a year ago? I'm waiting for the Defendants' attorney to argue that my being spotted recently tearing away 5 bananas from a 9 banana bunch at Walmart is indicative of leaving a political message in the produce section: "Mr. Detschelt, even when shopping, has found a way to communicate to the community that there were only 4 conservatives on the school board, with the rest being bananas, or as Mr. Detschelt refers to them, groomers. His continued expression of his political opinions has nothing to do with anything in this case, except that it's politically inconvenient that we allow Mr. Detschelt to continue to politically express himself!" As my attorney points out in the subsequent filing, below, "Defendants’ attempt to use Mr. Detschelt’s recent online comments as a basis for dismissal of his First Amendment retaliation claim seems instead to be yet another attempt by the Defendants to try to punish and chill Mr. Detschelt’s exercise of his First Amendment rights."

7) Plaintiff's Reply to Defendant's Supplemental Brief in Support of Its Motion to Dismiss

Status:

Waiting for Court to rule on Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (maybe late Spring 2024?).