Howard Friedman, Religion Clause
In Kajoshaj v. City of New York, (ED NY, Jan. 23, 2013), a New York federal district court rejected claims by an Albanian-American Muslim that the New York City schools discriminated against his son on the basis of religion and national origin when Public School 180 kept his son in 5th grade rather than passing him to the 6th grade. The court rejected plaintiff’s claim under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, quoting New York courts in saying: “Strong policy considerations militate against the intervention of courts in controversies relating to an educational institution’s judgment of a student’s academic performance.” The court also rejected equal protection, due process and state law challenges.