NYCLU Files Friend-of-the-Court Brief in Support of Parents who Sued Nassau School District

The New York Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a group of parents who had unsuccessfully sued the Lawrence Union Free School District in Nassau County to prevent the sale of a public-school building to a private party.

A federal judge dismissed the parents’ lawsuit in August, ruling that the school board’s decision to sell the building was constitutional. Following the dismissal, the defendants asked the court to assess attorneys’ fees against the individual plaintiffs.

The NYCLU’s brief argues that assessing attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs in this case would violate state civil rights laws and unnecessarily discourage people from challenging civil rights violations in court.

“Our laws are written so that people of modest means can challenge constitutional violations in court,” said Samantha Fredrickson, director of the NYCLU’s Nassau County Chapter. “If losing a civil rights lawsuit could ruin your finances, then people wouldn’t file them and countless civil rights violations would go unchallenged.”

The parents’ lawsuit alleged that school board members authorized the sale to institute tax breaks to assist Orthodox Jewish parents in sending their children to yeshivas. It also alleged other school board actions showing favoritism to the Orthodox Jewish community. They filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York through a pro bono attorney.

In dismissing the suit, the judge ruled that the school board was only attempting to limit expenditures and decrease taxes by selling the school, and that as a duly elected public body, its conduct was constitutional.