A federal judge today denied a request by a Mission Viejo high school student to legally prohibit the student’s former history teacher from disparaging religion during classroom lectures.
Chad Farnan, a 17-year-old senior at Capistrano Valley High School, had sought a court injunction against Advanced Placement European history teacher James Corbett, to bar the 20-year educator from “expressing any disapproval of religion while acting in his official capacity as a public school employee.”
Corbett, 62, was found to have violated the First Amendment in May when he was tape-recorded by Farnan referring to Creationism as “religious, superstitious nonsense” during a fall 2007 lecture.
“Either way, if Dr. Corbett engaged in conduct violating First Amendment rights, you’d be back in court, with or without the injunction,” U.S. District Court Judge James Selna said in his Santa Ana courtroom.
Farnan’s attorney, Jennifer Monk, argued during a 25-minute hearing today that if Farnan wanted to take either AP European history or AP art history during the upcoming school year, he would need to take those courses with Corbett, the only instructor at Capistrano Valley High to teach the classes.
The judge ruled the proposed injunction was “overbroad” and might have a “chilling effect” on Corbett’s ability to discuss religion.
