The most conservative federal appeals court in the country split this week in a challenge over bullying and harassment brought by a White male student who supports Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and President-elect Donald Trump, blocking the reverse discrimination lawsuit from going forward.
The student, identified only as B.W., sued Austin Independent School District in 2020 after facing more than two years of bullying for being White. He sued over allegedly having his civil rights violated.
According to court records, B.W. was called things like “Whitey” by a teaching aide, and a principal asked if he was listening to “Dixie” when his earbuds were in his ears, pulling one out. Students said things to him about the “evils of the White race,” and one teacher mocked him for listening to “White Gospel Music.”
Another teacher told him, “I will not have a White man talk to me about gender issues.”
A student also circulated a meme of B.W. in a Ku Klux Klan hood.
After wearing a T-shirt supporting Mr. Cruz and being identified as a Trump supporter, B.W. said he was harassed.
The district court had dismissed B.W.’s reverse racism claim, reasoning he conflated political bias with racial animus.
The divided, full U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday split evenly, affirming the district court’s decision.
The group of judges who agreed with the dismissal of the case reasoned that the bullying was not on the basis of B.W.’s race, but rather was intertwined with politics.
“Being called a racist is not the equivalent of being harassed based on the harassment victim’s race. Being accused of racism says nothing about the race of the accused. A racist or alleged racist could be a person of virtually any color,” the judges agreeing with the dismissal wrote. “The complaint does not allege they were racially motivated.”
But the group of judges dissenting said they would have sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings, arguing there were allegations in B.W.’s lawsuit that he was beat up because he was White.
“B.W.’s allegations of daily bullying — taken in context — plausibly amount to racial harassment,” the dissent read.
A spokesperson from the Austin Independent School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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