[ZERO] There is a major ruling out of the United States States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in favor of a middle school science teacher, Eric Dodge, who was barred from wearing a "Make America Great Again" baseball cap and later berated by the principal, Caroline Garrett, as a "racist" and a "homophobe."The unanimous court ruled that the hat was protected speech under the First Amendment.
District Court judge James L. Robart ruled against Dodge and dismissed the case in its entirety. (Robart is the judge who was publicly denounced by former President Trump). Robart dismissed the case on the grounds of qualified immunity or a failure to substantiate claims.
The Ninth Circuit reversed Robart, but it did uphold the dismissal of the case against two defendants, the Evergreen Public Schools district and the district’s Chief Human Resources Officer Jenae Gomes.
Eric Dodge had only recently been assigned to the school after he recovered from a stroke. He is a 17-year veteran of the Evergreen district. He told Garrett that he wore the hat because he had sensitive spots on his scalp that had to be protected from the sun. He also said that he agreed with the message of the hat. Garrett said that the hat represented hate and prejudice to many others.
