Sometimes, a legal loophole can exist that leads to unforeseen circumstances popping up way later down the road. This is what happened in Lakeville and their school district when they decided to put up eight different posters, with two of them saying and including the term “Black Lives Matter.” However, one family and their lawyers decided this violated their First Amendment rights, and it all happened because of a legal loophole.
A post on Reddit by Hrekires on the R/News page confirms that the Lakeville School district settled the lawsuit that began in 2022 over the Black Lives Matter signs placed across school facilities. Over 3,000 posters were taken down during the spring break vacation at these facilities. According to CBS News, a lawsuit filed by the Upper Midwest Law Center had basically stated the posters violated the First Amendment rights of a few people. They argued that this was wrong since the signs didn’t include All Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter as an option.
The law firm issued a statement about the case.
Because that was what the plaintiffs had sought in the lawsuit, they agreed to dismiss their claims in the settlement in return for the District paying $30,000 in legal fees to the Upper Midwest Law Center.
Many folks online were very upset about the news, which technically was only allowed to happen due to a loophole in the policy the school created when they decided to put the posters up.
“$30k to the predatory law firm that did this”
“Get your shit together, Lakeville.”
“Not long before the protestors themselves will get “taken down” to the Trump Death Camps. Welcome to Germany circa 1933″
It’s a shame that a positive, well-meaning message was taken down by greed and selfish behavior, but Lakeville will undoubtedly be much more careful with sweeping policies in the future.