(ConservativeInsider.org) – A civil rights law firm is helping a high school teacher and two students to sue the state of Arkansas over their recent law that bans the teaching of critical race theory, claiming the restriction is unconstitutional.
The Laux Law Group, a civil rights law firm in the state’s capital of Little Rock, is heading the lawsuit. The firm is representing two students and a teacher from Little Rock Central High School in the lawsuit. The high school is famous for being one of the first schools that forced desegregation after the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
Last year, the state passed an education law known as Arkansas LEARNS Act that prohibits “indoctrination” and the teaching of critical race theory. The law’s argument against critical race theory is that it “encourages students to discriminate” by putting such a focus on race and gender, among other issues. This law led to the African American Studies Advanced Placement class to be dropped by the Arkansas Department of Education and would no longer give students college credit, as is typical for Advanced Placement classes. The class is still available to students, but it only counts as an elective class for high school credit.
The lawsuit alleges that the ban on critical race theory violates the First Amendment as well as the Fourteenth Amendment, specifically the equal protection clause. The suit also claims that the Arkansas bill does not strictly define what constitutes critical race theory, meaning the ban is “overly broad and vague.”
The Attorney General of Arkansas, Tim Griffin, has voiced his support for the LEARNS Act, calling it a “much-needed reform.” He stated that he’s defending the Act in court before and is ready to “vigorously defend” it in court again.
Arkansas is one of several states waging war on the left’s attempt to push critical race theory in classrooms. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis also stopped high schools from teaching AP African American Studies.
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