Fitzgerald, Safford, and the Future of Section 1983 Education Litigation

This paper will discuss Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee (Fitzgerald), which held that title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 does not supplant a damages remedy under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for peer sexual harassment alleged to violate a student's constitutional right to equal protection of the laws; Safford Unified School District No. 1 v. Redding (Safford School District), which held that the strip search of a student constituted a violation of the Fourth Amendment under the circumstances of the case, but that official immunity shielded the individual, non–school district defendants because the law was not clearly established at time of search; and other recent precedents that may affect section 1983 claims over conduct occurring at the public schools. The discussion begins with basics of section 1983 litigation, lists some typical areas of section 1983 education litigation, and then looks at Fitzgerald, Stafford School District, and other recent cases and assesses their impact.