James v. Cleveland School Dist, No. 21-60688 (5th Cir. 2022)
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As the result of a longstanding desegregation decree, Plaintiff’s high school was consolidated with another school before her senior year. This reshuffled the class rankings, and Plaintiff ended up third. She sued school officials, alleging she had been denied due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court correctly dismissed her claims. Plaintiff alleges only a property interest.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling, finding that Plaintiff has no such property interest in her class ranking or in the points awarded for her courses. The court explained that under precedent students lack “any protected interest in the separate components of the educational process.” It follows that students lack due process interests in their class rank or in the quality points assigned to their courses. Further, the court wrote that Plaintiff has no cognizable property interest in the components of her public education. Under the court’s precedent, this lack of a property interest dooms her substantive due process claim by definition.
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