Judge: Rights Violated in Prom Case, But No Injunction

This from Mark Walsh at the School Law Blog:

A Mississippi school district likely violated the free speech rights of a lesbian student when it refused her permission to take her girlfriend to the prom or to wear a tuxedo, a federal district judge has ruled.

But U.S. Senior District Judge Glen H. Davidson, of Aberdeen, Miss., denied an injunction that would have required the 3,700-student Itawamba County School District to reinstate the April 2 school-sponsored prom, which was canceled March 10 amid the controversy over the request by student Constance McMillen.

Because parents have stepped forward to put on a private, inclusive prom open to all students of Itawamba Agricultural High School, "the court finds that requiring defendants to step back into a sponsorship role at this late date would only confuse and confound the community on the issue," Judge Davidson said in his March 23 opinion in McMillen v. Itawamba County School District.

Despite his refusal to grant the injunction sought by the American Civil Liberties Union on the student's behalf, the judge's preliminary ruling was that McMillen's First Amendment rights were violated...

Backstory from CBS News.