Federal judge tosses out claims in suit over Black Houston student's hair

Darryl George stands next to his mother, Darresha George, in front of Galveston County Court House, May 23, 2024, in Galveston, Texas.Photo byRaquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via AP, File

HOUSTON — A federal judge's ruling Tuesday brings another victory for the Barbers Hill Independent School District (BHISD) in Mont Belview.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump-era appointee to the Southern District, dismissed most claims filed by a Black high school student alleging racial and gender discrimination against the BHISD.

The case dates back to late 2023, when BHISD student, Darryl George, served two rounds of in-school suspension over his hairstyle. George and his family alleged that the suspension violated Texas' version of the “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” or CROWN Act.

The Act, taking effect Sept. 1 of 2023, is intended to prohibit race-based hair discrimination in schools and by Texas employers. It bars penalizing people over traditionally Black hairstyles, including Afros, braids, dreadlocks, twists or Bantu knots.

BHISD claims its policy restricting hair length for male students instills discipline while teaching grooming and respect for authority. The district countered that the length of George's dreadlocks was the issue — not the style itself.

George, the district said, wore his hair too long, in tied and twisted locs on top of his head; and that, if let down, his hair would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes.

The district claimed other students with locs comply with the length policy.

According to Darryl's mother, Darresha, the men of the George family have all worn dreadlocks, going back generations. She spoke with PBS News Hour last year, explaining the hairstyle has cultural and religious importance to the family.

“Our hair is where our strength is, that’s our roots,” Ms. George said.

“He has his ancestors locked into his hair, and he knows that.”

The original petition for the case was filed in Houston District Court in late September. Houston lawyer Allie Booker, of the Booker Law Firm, represented the George Family.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton were also named parties to the federal civil rights case.

The Hon. Jeff Brown, District Judge of the Southern District.Photo byThe Federalist Society

Judge Brown, a member of the controversial right-wing organization The Federalist Society, dismissed most claims in the case Tuesday.

But, in his decision, Judge Brown questioned whether the school district's rule governing hair length does more harm than good.

“Not everything that is undesirable, annoying, or even harmful amounts to a violation of the law, much less a constitutional problem,” Brown wrote.

Neither the George Family, the Booker Firm, nor Judge Brown's office have spoken publicly on the matter as of this writing.

George, now 18, a junior at BHISD at the time, was kept out of his regular high school classes for most of the 2023-24 school year, because the school district said his hair length violated its dress code.

George either served in-school suspension at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu or spent time at an off-site disciplinary program.

The lawsuit alleged the school district’s policy was being enforced mainly on Black students. But Brown said George had not shown “a persistent, widespread practice of disparate, race-based enforcement of the policy."

The lawsuit further alleged that George’s First Amendment rights to free speech were being violated.

But Brown wrote that George’s lawyer could not cite any case law holding that hair length “is protected as expressive conduct under the First Amendment.”

Brown dismissed various claims that George’s due process rights under the 14th Amendment were being violated. He also dropped Abbott, Paxton, the district superintendent and other school employees from the case.

Brown did, however, let an allegation of sex discrimination based on the district's hair length policy stand. He explained that the district lacks clearly defined policies on why girls are allowed to have long hair, but boys may not.

“Because the district does not provide any reason for the sex-based distinctions in its dress code, the claim survives this initial stage,” Brown said.

Brown’s order comes after a state judge in February ruled in a lawsuit filed by the school district that its punishment does not violate the CROWN Act.

At the end of his ruling, Brown highlighted a 1970 case in which a judge ruled against a school district in El Paso, Texas, that had tried to prevent a male student from enrolling because his hair length violated district policy.

The El Paso judge’s ruling was later overturned by an appeals court.

The judge in the El Paso case had written that “the presence and enforcement of the hair-cut rule causes far more disruption of the classroom instructional process than the hair it seeks to prohibit.”

“Regrettably, so too here,” Brown said in reference to George’s case.

Barbers Hill’s hair policy was also challenged in a May 2020 federal lawsuit filed by two other students.

Both withdrew from the high school, but one returned after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, saying there was “a substantial likelihood” that his rights to free speech and to be free from racial discrimination would be violated if he was barred.

That lawsuit is still pending.

As always, if you have a spicy tip for me, want to check out my less news-y writing, or just want to stop by and say hi — you can find me over on Substack at @aboyandhisdog.

If you're curious about me —you don't have to be. You can find out just about everything you'd want to know about this Texas boy right here, my own politics, and my thoughts on the state of journalism.