Judge issues orders in lawsuit challenging HB 1775

U.S. Western District Judge Charles Goodwin on Friday dismissed without prejudice claims under the First and 14th Amendments against the Board of Regents for the University of Oklahoma connected to House Bill 1775 and a claim against Edmond Public Schools. A dismissal without prejudice means the claims can be refiled.

The judge partially granted a request for a temporary restraining order allowing professors at public colleges and universities to include presentations about race or sex stereotypes in orientations or courses.

“The ambiguity of the term ‘presents’ means … that the provision could be reasonably construed to mean … a professor describing or identifying discriminatory beliefs in an orientation or course,” one of the orders reads in part. “Likewise, the provision also could be reasonably construed to mean that a professor is prohibited from discussing or assigning the reading of a work in which the author describes or identifies discriminatory beliefs — for example, an analysis of how historic beliefs about race led to the enslavement and subjugation of Black men and women as depicted in Mark Twain’s ‘Huckleberry Finn’ or an analysis of how current stereotypes about gender affect the employment opportunities of women.”

However, the temporary restraining order does not extend to school districts and specifically notes that covering concepts that make a student uncomfortable is distinct from teaching a student that their race or sex alone is sufficient cause to feel shame.

Goodwin declined to rule on whether the law is unconstitutionally vague in violation of the 14th Amendment. Instead, attorneys for both sides have been ordered to submit questions by June 28 that will be referred to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

“The court is mindful of its limited role and that no Oklahoma court has had the opportunity to determine how the act should be construed,” Goodwin wrote. “Applying the factors described … and noting the public importance of the act, the court concludes that certification of relevant questions to the Fourteenth Amendment due process claim to the Oklahoma Supreme Court is appropriate.”

As adopted, HB 1775 bans teaching that one race or gender is inherently superior. It also prohibits causing a student to feel guilty or uncomfortable because of their race or gender, as well as teaching that anyone is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or otherwise.

The text of the measure does not include the phrase “critical race theory.” However, many have construed its provisions as a ban on the concept, which argues that many key pillars of American society, including the judicial system and the economy, have been shaped in ways to benefit whites at the expense of minorities.

Filed in October 2021 by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law on behalf of multiple organizations plus individual teachers and students from Edmond and Oklahoma City Millwood public schools, the federal lawsuit claims that HB 1775 violates both the First and 14th amendments, is unconstitutionally vague, overbroad and racially discriminatory, and has had a chilling effect on lesson plans.

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