On April 22, 2020, the US Appellate Court for the Third Circuit issued its decision in Ali v. Woodbridge Township School District et. al., No. 19-2217 (3rd Cir. 2020) affirming the District Court’s grant of summary judgment to a school district, Board of Education, superintendent, and principal. Plaintiff, Jason Ali, who is of Egyptian descent and a non-practicing Muslim, was a non-tenured history teacher at Woodbridge High School alleged in his suit that he was terminated on the basis of his race, ethnicity, and religion. For his world history class, Ali posted links to articles on a school-sponsored website such as “Article in Saudi Daily: U.S. Planned, Carried out 9/11 Attacks—but blames others for them” and “The Jews are like a Cancer. Woe to the world if they become strong”. Ali also taught Holocaust denial theory to his students. When a reporter questioned the principal about the links on the website, the principal responded that he would take them down and investigate. Ali was fired the next day. Ali’s lawsuit alleged violations of employment anti-discrimination laws, hostile work and environment and violations of his First Amendment rights to free speech and academic freedom.
The Federal Appellate Court found that Defendants articulated three non-discriminatory reasons for Plaintiff’s termination, which included his dissemination of links to anti-Semitic online articles through the school’s official channels, Ali’s showing of no remorse for his conduct, and his teaching holocaust denial theory to his students. The Court found the reasons to be legitimate and non-discriminatory. The Court also found that Ali’s First Amendment rights were not violated because “teachers do not have a protected First Amendment right to decide the content of their lessons or how the material should be presented to their students.” Please click below to read the Court’s opinion.