Half of the children in the U.S. who are corporally punished by public-school officials live in the Fifth Circuit. Notably, that circuit stands alone in its refusal to allow children to assert constitutional claims against their abusers.
The Fifth Circuit’s peculiar precedent precluding constitutional claims against public school officials who physically abuse children also conflicts with this Court’s jurisprudence.
This Court should resolve another circuit split by holding that children’s constitutional claims against public-school officials who physically abuse them arise principally from the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable seizures.