Mozert v. Hawkins County Public Schools

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HULL, Chief Judge.

This is a civil rights action, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking injunctive relief and money damages for the alleged violation of the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. This controversy stems from the compulsory use of the 1983 edition of the Holt, Rhinehart and Winston basic reading series (Holt series) in the Hawkins County Public Schools. The plaintiffs, “fundamentalist” Christian school children and their parents, claim that their religion requires that they not be exposed to the Holt series because its contents are offensive to…