Legal Corner

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Johnson Case

The U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment on Monday, March 26^th, to take up the appeal in Johnson vs. Poway Unified School District (No.11-910). 

 Congratulations to the legal team at Stutz that prevailed before the U.S. District Court of Appeals 9^th Circuit in the Johnson case on behalf of the school district.  The team included partners Daniel Shinoff,  Certified Appellate Specialist Paul Carelli and Jack M. Sleeth, Jr. who presented oral arguments before the 9th Circuit on May 5, 2011.

 The 9^th Circuit Court ruled in favor of Poway Unified School District in its 3-0 unanimous decision filed on September 13^th and reversed and vacated the lower court’s decision in the 2007 case brought by Brad Johnson, a district high school math teacher, against Poway Unified. The case was brought by the teacher who claimed his constitutional rights were violated when he was instructed by the District to remove large banners displaying “God” and “Creator” on the walls of his math class.

See LINK to full story, 9^th Circuit Court Opinion and C-SPAN video of oral argument