Case: 12-60264
Document: 00513162565
Page: 12
Date Filed: 08/20/2015
No. 12-60264
school board’s.
In doing so, it concluded the rap recording constituted
“harassment and intimidation of teachers and possible threats against
teachers and threatened, harassed, and intimidated school employees”. Bell,
859 F. Supp. 2d at 840 (internal quotation marks omitted). The court also
concluded the rap recording “in fact caused a material and/or substantial
disruption at school and . . . it was reasonably foreseeable to school officials the
song would cause such a disruption”. Id. Moreover, the court concluded, inter
alia: (1) the superintendent and principal were entitled to qualified immunity
in their individual capacities; and (2) Bell’s mother could not show a violation
of her Fourteenth Amendment rights (she claimed the school’s disciplining Bell
violated her right to make decisions regarding the custody and care of her son).
Id. at 841–42.
On appeal, only the summary judgment against Bell’s First Amendment
claim was challenged. A divided panel in December 2014 held, inter alia: the
school board violated Bell’s First Amendment right by disciplining him based
on the language in the rap recording. Bell v. Itawamba Cnty. Sch. Bd., 774
F.3d 280, 304–05 (5th Cir. 2014), reh’g en banc granted & opinion vacated, 782
F.3d 712 (5th Cir. 2015). En-banc review was granted in February 2015.
II.
Because the summary judgment against Bell’s mother’s Fourteenth
Amendment claim and for the school officials’ qualified-immunity claim was
not contested on appeal, the only issue before our en-banc court is the summary
judgment against Bell’s First Amendment claim. (The misconduct alleged by
Bell against the two teachers is, of course, not at issue.)
A summary judgment is reviewed de novo, applying the same standard
as did the district court. E.g., Feist v. La., Dep’t of Justice, Office of the Att’y
Gen., 730 F.3d 450, 452 (5th Cir. 2013). Summary judgment is proper when
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