The Supreme Court rejected a request to revive a Texas student’s lawsuit claiming he was bullied for supporting President Trump and for being white.
Brooks Warden, called B.W. in the initial suit because it was filed when he was a minor, claimed that a “years-long campaign of bullying and harassment” ensued after he wore a Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat on a school field trip.
He said he was made a target because of his race and political views, as a white male whose former school district is predominantly Hispanic.
“When his teachers and classmates at his predominantly Hispanic school found out that he was not only a white male but also a Trump supporter, it was open season,” the petition reads.
He had asked the justices to let his 2020 lawsuit against Austin Independent School District, which he claimed failed to stop the alleged abuse, move forward after a divided federal appeals court affirmed a lower court’s ruling throwing out the suit.
The question at hand was whether racial harassment lawsuits can be filed even when the “primary impetus” for the harassment was the challenger’s political views.
After a federal judge dismissed the case, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld that decision. However, after the full 5th Circuit court heard Warden’s case, it split 9-9 over whether to revive the lawsuit. As a result, the dismissal was affirmed.
In a fiery dissent, 5th Circuit Judge James Ho wrote that “being white was absolutely one” of the reasons that Warden was bullied.
“It’s racist to characterize whites as racist,” Ho wrote. “Because it’s racist to attach any negative trait to a group of people based on their race.”
The Austin school district wrote in its opposition to the petition that it “does not condone harassment or bullying of any kind” and regrets Brooks’s experience — but rejected the student’s claims as political bluster.
