Federal judge strikes down New Hampshire ‘divisive concepts’ classroom law
A federal judge in New Hampshire on Tuesday ruled state laws that limit elementary and high school lessons on race and gender are unconstitutional, marking a significant legal victory for national teacher unions against culture-based education restrictions.
The decision is the first in the nation to overturn such a measure, according to civil rights advocates who helped challenge New Hampshire’s conservative-led laws. It also stands to bring renewed attention to stark political divides over curriculum limits promoted by former President Donald Trump and his allies. Tuesday’s ruling, though, may yet be appealed to continue a protracted court fight with the state’s Republican administration.
New Hampshire’s amended education and anti-discrimination statutes created "viewpoint-based restrictions on speech that do not provide either fair warning to educators of what they prohibit or sufficient standards for law enforcement to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement,” U.S. District Judge Paul J. Barbadoro wrote in Tuesday’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of unions, educators and advocacy groups who sued to stop the laws.
"Thus," he wrote, "the Amendments violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."
Approved in 2021 following a Trump executive order to block federal funding for the promotion of “divisive concepts” based on race and sex, New Hampshire’s laws prohibited state K-12 students from being “taught, instructed, inculcated or compelled to express belief” in the idea that they are inherently racist, sexist or oppressive — or inherently superior to other people — based on their race, gender identity, religion and other characteristics.
The American Civil Liberties Union, National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers responded by backing two separate, and ultimately consolidated, lawsuits that challenged the law and helped set the stage for a broader legal fight against similar measures that have swept across conservative-led states in recent years.
“All told, the banned concepts speak only obliquely about the speech that they target and, in doing so, fail to provide teachers with much-needed clarity as to how the Amendments apply to the very topics that they were meant to address,” Barbadoro wrote in Tuesday’s decision.
“This lack of clarity sows confusion and leaves significant gaps that can only be filled in by those charged with enforcing the Amendments, thereby inviting arbitrary enforcement.”
New Hampshire’s law garnered additional controversy after the state's Moms for Liberty chapter offered to pay $500 to the first person who caught a teacher violating the law. The conservative group made the offer two days after the New Hampshire Department of Education launched a website and invited community members to use it to report possible violations of the law.
“All New Hampshire teachers and students won big today,” AFT New Hampshire President Deb Howes said in a statement. “This decision should put to rest the issue, and New Hampshire teachers will no longer have to live under a cloud of fear of getting fired for actually teaching accurate, honest education.”
The office of state education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, a supporter of the restrictions who is also a defendant in the federal lawsuit, declined to comment.
“The State is currently reviewing the court’s order and will consider next steps including whether to appeal,” Michael Garrity, a spokesperson for New Hampshire’s justice department, said in a statement.
The office of Republican Gov. Christopher Sununu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
