SCRANTON – A Lebanon high school student who sued his school district and claimed his First Amendment rights were being violated by requiring him to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance, has won the right to proceed anonymously in this case.
John Doe, by and through his father and next friend John Roe, initially filed a complaint on Jan. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, against the Lebanon School District.
Doe is a junior at Lebanon High School who alleged that throughout the months of October and December 2019, his First Amendment rights were violated because he was punished every day for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance, as required by school district policy.
Doe said that his punishment included being required to sit in the principal’s office during his first-period class, which was math. He claimed he failed the class for the first quarter of 2019-20, which has impaired his college admission prospects.
On Feb. 13, the plaintiffs filed a motion to redact identifiers, amend the caption and substitute fictitious names on the original lawsuit.
“In the days after plaintiff filed his complaint, local media outlets have published stories using sufficient information to identify student, defeating the purpose of Local Rule 5.2(d)(2), which provides that the names of minor children must be mentioned only by the child’s initials,” the motion read, in part.
“Plaintiff’s counsel has been contacting those outlets to request that they refrain from using information that would identify student, in light of his well-founded fear of retaliation from the community based on the events described in the complaint.”
In order to protect the minor plaintiff from retaliation, the plaintiffs seek leave of court to substitute an attached complaint and further leave to use fictitious names going forward.
On March 30, U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer P. Wilson granted the plaintiffs’ motion.
“Upon consideration of plaintiffs’ unopposed motion to redact identifiers, amend the caption, and substitute fictitious names, it is ordered that the motion is granted. The Clerk of Court is directed to replace the original complaint and civil cover sheet with the plaintiff’s proposed complaint and civil cover sheet,” Wilson said.
“The Clerk of Court is further directed to amend the caption for this case, all docketing information related to this order, and all docketing information related to previously filed documents to reflect the new caption listed.”
The Lebanon School District has yet to provide an answer to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs seek trial by jury, monetary relief, and all other appropriate relief.
They are represented by Judith Gran of Reisman Carolla Gran & Zuba in Haddonfield, N.J. and Jennifer Y. Sang of Berney & Sang, in Philadelphia.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 1:20-cv-00156
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com