A Constitutional Commitment to Access to Literacy: Bridging the Chasm Between Negative and Positive Rights

EVAN CAMINKER

Michigan Law dean emeritus Evan Caminker discusses a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in which that court held that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause secures schoolchildren a fundamental right to a “basic minimum education” that “can plausibly impart literacy.” Caminker—one of the co-counsel for the plaintiffs in that case—explains why the decision is so remarkable and why the supposed dichotomy between positive and negative rights is not as stark as canonically claimed.

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Committee for Public Counsel Services v. Chief Justice of the Trial Court (No. 2)

Docket: SJC-12926

Opinion Date: April 28, 2020

Judge: Per Curiam

Areas of Law: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

In this case regarding the mitigation of the spread of COVID-19 in the Commonwealth's prison decision the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed its prior decision, issued on April 3, 2020, as to the extent of the Court's constitutional authority to stay final sentences absent an ongoing challenge to the underlying conviction or a violation of constitutional rights, holding that the global stays of sentences sought by Petitioners would co-opt executive functions in ways that are not permitted by article 30 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. Petitioners asked the Supreme Judicial Court to reconsider its determination that neither the Court's inherent judicial authority nor its superintendence authority permitted a judge to stay a final sentence that is being served, absent a pending appeal or a motion for a new trial, without violating separation of powers principles under article 30. Petitioners further challenged the court's order with respect to reporting requirements. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed its prior decision but concluded that some of the requested relief as to additional reporting requirements should be allowed, and accordingly issued a revised Appendix B.

Hlatky v. Steward Health Care System, LLC

Docket: SJC-12688

Opinion Date: April 28, 2020

Judge: Per Curiam

Areas of Law: Contracts

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order of the superior court finding that Defendant committed a breach of contract and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and awarding $10.2 million in damages, holding that the superior court did not abuse its discretion. The jury awarded Plaintiff in excess of $22 million in damages after Defendant withdrew its support for Plaintiff's research laboratory. The judge conditionally ordered a new trial unless Plaintiff agreed to remit all but $10.2 million of the awarded damages, which represented in part $10 million that Plaintiff testified was necessary to reestablish her laboratory. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial evidence supported the finding that Defendant committed a breach of both the express terms of the contract and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (2) the cost of reestablishing the laboratory was a permissible element of the damages; and (3) the judge did not abuse her discretion in adding a remittitur of all but $10.2 million of the award of damages. The judges were equally divided as to whether the $10 million should go to Plaintiff outright or subject to a restriction, and therefore, the award of damages stood without any restriction.

Doe v. Worcester Public Schools

Docket: SJC-12827

Opinion Date: April 28, 2020

Judge: Budd

Areas of Law: Education Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order of the superior court granting Plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction seeking immediate reinstatement to school after she was suspended for 152 school days for possessing a small amount of marijuana and two makeshift pipes in her locker at a public high school, holding that the motion judge did not err in concluding that Plaintiff was likely to succeed on the merits of her claim. When Plaintiff appealed from her suspension to the superintendent, the district's school safety director acting as the superintendent's designee shorted the suspension to 112 school days. Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging that, by delegating the appeal to the school safety director, Defendants failed to comply with the procedure for appealing from the expulsion set forth in Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 71, 37H(d). Plaintiff also filed an emergency motion for a preliminary injunction. The motion judge granted the preliminary injunction and reinstated Plaintiff to her high school. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that because the principal initially imposed a suspension of 152 school days, Plaintiff was entitled under section 37H to appeal from her exclusion directly to the superintendent, not a designee of the superintendent.