JACKSON v. BIRMINGHAM BOARD OF EDUCATION

Legal Principle at Issue

Does Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 allow suits for retaliation against individuals who complain about sex discrimination, or if it is limited only to direct victims of the discrimination?

Action

Reversed and remanded. Petitioning party received a favorable disposition.

Facts/Syllabus

Roderick Jackson, a teacher and basketball coach in the Birmingham, Alabama, public schools, brought suit against the Birmingham Board of Education alleging it retaliated against him because he had complained about sex discrimination in the high school's athletic program. Jackson claimed that the Board's retaliation violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 because the girls’ basketball team was not receiving equal funding and equal access to athletic equipment and facilities. Jackson then received negative work evaluations and ultimately was removed as the girls’ basketball coach.

The District Court dismissed Jackson's complaint on the ground that Title IX does not prohibit retaliation, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed in 2002, concluding that, under Alexander v. Sandoval, the Department of Education’s Title IX regulation expressly prohibiting retaliation does not create a private cause of action, and that, even if Title IX prohibits retaliation, petitioner is not within the class of persons the statute protects.