Keith MayThe headline-grabbing lawsuit filed in 2007 by Chad Farnan, a senior at Capistrano Valley High, against history teacher James Corbett for allegedly expressing hostility towards Christianity in class, came to a close today, and it's still a little unclear who really won. The federal judge who issued the ruling found that there were dozens of instances where Farnan's First Amendment rights were not violated by Corbett's statements, and one instance in which they were. So essentially, Judg
Keith May / OCWJames CorbettAn editorial today in the Los Angeles Times weighs in on the case of Capistrano Valley High School history teacher James Corbett, who was recently ruled to have violated the establishment clause of the Constitution by calling creationism "religious, superstitious nonsense." The Weekly's been covering the saga, most recently here.The Times editorial dances around the issue of whether Corbett actually did anything wrong. His comments "crossed the line," says the Times,
AP European history teacher James Corbett will be allowed to talk shit about (any) religion in his classroom if he feels like it, as long as said shit-talking is done within the context of his history lectures...
Photo by Keith May
James CorbettA federal judge in Santa Ana has ruled that high school history teacher James Corbett--who former Weekly reporter Daffodil Altan wrote about here and here (with Gustavo Arellano on the latter)--is not financially liable for disparaging Christians in class.
The scoop is in today's Orange County Register.
James Corbett​The Register's Scott Martindale reports that the lovably liberal UCI Law dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, will help represent James Corbett in his appeal of the ruling earlier this year that he violated the Constitution by criticizing Creationism in a Capistrano Valley High School classroom.Corbett called Creationism "religious, superstitious nonsense" while teaching AP European History in 2007. Student Chad Farnan sued, alleging religious descrimination based on that comment and 21 othe
