HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed most of the claims in a lawsuit filed by a Black high school student who alleged that school officials committed racial and gender discrimination when they punished him for refusing to change his hairstyle.
The ruling was another victory in the case for the Barbers Hill school district near Houston, which has said its policy restricting hair length for male students instills discipline while teaching grooming and respect for authority.
But in his order, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown questioned whether the school district’s rule causes more harm than good.
“Not everything that is undesirable, annoying, or even harmful amounts to a violation of the law, much less a constitutional problem,” Brown wrote.
The Associated Press left phone and email messages seeking comment with the school district and George's attorney, Allie Booker, on Tuesday.
George, 18, was kept out of his regular high school classes for most of the 2023-24 school year, when he was a junior, because the school district said his hair length violated its dress code. George either served in-school suspension at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu or spent time at an off-site disciplinary program.
The district has argued that George’s long hair, which he wears to school in tied and twisted locs on top of his head, violates its policy because it would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes if let down. The district has said other students with locs comply with the length policy.
George and his mother, Darresha George, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last year against the school district, the district superintendent, his principal and assistant principal as well as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The suit also alleged that George’s punishment violates the CROWN Act, a new state law prohibiting race-based hair discrimination. The CROWN Act, which was being discussed before the dispute over George's hair and which took effect in September, bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including Afros, braids, locs, twists or Bantu knots.
The lawsuit alleged the school district’s policy was being enforced mainly on Black students. But Brown said George had not shown “a persistent, widespread practice of disparate, race-based enforcement of the policy.”
The lawsuit also alleged that George’s First Amendment rights to free speech were being violated. But Brown wrote that George’s lawyer could not cite any case law holding that hair length “is protected as expressive conduct under the First Amendment.”
Brown dismissed various claims that George’s due process rights under the 14th Amendment were being violated. He also dropped Abbott, Paxton, the district superintendent and other school employees from the case.
The only claim he let stand was an allegation of sex discrimination based on the school district's lack of clearly defined policies on why girls could be allowed to have long hair but boys could not.
“Because the district does not provide any reason for the sex-based distinctions in its dress code, the claim survives this initial stage,” Brown said.
Brown’s order comes after a state judge in February ruled in a lawsuit filed by the school district that its punishment does not violate the CROWN Act.
At the end of his ruling, Brown highlighted a 1970 case in which a judge ruled against a school district in El Paso, Texas, that had tried to prevent a male student from enrolling because his hair length violated district policy. The El Paso judge’s ruling was later overturned by an appeals court.
The judge in the El Paso case had written that “the presence and enforcement of the hair-cut rule causes far more disruption of the classroom instructional process than the hair it seeks to prohibit.”
“Regrettably, so too here,” Brown said in reference to George’s case.
Barbers Hill’s hair policy was also challenged in a May 2020 federal lawsuit filed by two other students. Both withdrew from the high school, but one returned after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, saying there was “a substantial likelihood” that his rights to free speech and to be free from racial discrimination would be violated if he was barred. That lawsuit is still pending.
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FILE - Darryl George stands next to his mother, Darresha George, in front of Galveston County Court House, May 23, 2024, in Galveston, Texas. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Julio Rodríguez homered twice to drive in five runs, George Kirby went six innings for his 13th victory and the AL wild card-chasing Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-2 on Friday night.
Rodríguez put the Mariners (79-75) ahead to stay with his three-run homer in the fifth off Jack Leiter, who relieved Jacob deGrom after the two-time Cy Young Award winner made his first home start in nearly 17 months after elbow surgery.
Seattle remained two games behind Minnesota for the third and final wild card after the Twins beat Boston 4-2 in 12 innings. The Mariners stayed five back of Houston in the AL West with eight games remaining, three in Houston.
“We’re still in it. Everyone’s confident. Just got to to keep playing good baseball," Kirby said.
“It feels great. Obviously we have a shot to get into the playoffs,” Rodríguez said. “But I feel like everybody knows that and understands that at the same time we've got to take it one day at a time. ... We've got to focus on that right now.”
Rodríguez tied a career high for RBIs with his first multihomer game this season. His first homer put Seattle up 4-2, and he went deep off the rookie right-hander again in the seventh with a two-run shot the opposite way to right field for his 18th of the year.
Kirby (13-11) beat the reigning World Series champions again, five days after facing the minimum 21 batters over seven scoreless innings at home against them. The 26-year-old right-hander is 7-0 with a 1.15 ERA in nine career starts against Texas. He struck out four without a walk this time while allowing two runs on five hits.
“George jumped picked up right where he left off against Texas back at home,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said.
Nathaniel Lowe had a two-run single for the Rangers (73-81), who have already been eliminated from the AL West race and are on the verge of being officially knocked out of wild-card contention and guaranteed a losing record.
Lowe's hit ended Kirby's streak of 34 consecutive scoreless innings against Texas in a span of seven starts since Sept. 28, 2022.
DeGrom struck out five over three innings, and the only run he allowed was when No. 9 batter Josh Rojas led off the third with a homer. Rojas later added a sacrifice fly.
Leiter (0-3) allowed seven runs (six earned) over five innings. He struck out five and walked two while throwing 57 of 92 pitches for strikes.
A week after throwing 3 2/3 scoreless innings in his season debut on the road, also against the Mariners, deGrom threw 37 of 58 pitches for strikes and had one walk. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy had said the 36-year-old right-hander would throw about 60 pitches.
“Definitely felt better than my first one. I think maybe a little bit less nerves, worked on some things in between,” said deGrom, who will get one more start this season. "It’s little things that I've got to continue to work on, but my arm felt good and that was the most important thing.”
It was the first start at home for deGrom since he left in the middle of the fourth inning against the New York Yankees on April 28, 2023. That was the sixth and last start in the first season of his $185 million, five-year contract.
UP NEXT
Three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer (2-4, 3.95 ERA) makes his second start since coming off the IL after missing 40 games with right shoulder fatigue and an arm nerve issue. Rookie right-hander Emerson Hancock (3-4, 4.83) starts for Seattle.
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Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe (30) hits a two-run single in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez celebrates in the dugout after a two-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby (68) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Seattle Mariners Josh Rojas (4) celebrates in the dugout after a solo home run against the Texas Rangers in the third inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) and catcher Jonah Heim (28) walk back to the dugout in the first inning in a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez (44) hits a two-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby (68) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez reacts toward the dugout as he runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
