Public School Teacher Lacks First Amendment Right to Put Foot

A short excerpt from today's >17K-word decision by Judge Sarah Russell (D. Conn.) in Arroyo-Castro v. Gasper:

The dispute centers around whether Ms. Castro [a New Britain schoolteacher] has the right to affix an approximately foot-high crucifix to the wall near the teacher's desk in a classroom of a public middle school….

The parties do not dispute that the crucifix display on the classroom wall is "speech" within the meaning of the First Amendment. At issue is whether the crucifix display is protected speech. When "a public employee speaks 'pursuant to [his or her] official duties,' … the Free Speech Clause generally will not shield the individual from an employer's control and discipline because that kind of speech is—for constitutional purposes at least—the government's own speech." K