Bennett Vs Texas Wrestling Association Case Study

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I. Citation Barnett v. Texas Wrestling Association (1998): online http://www.leagle.com/decision/199870616FSupp2d690_1635/BARNETT%20v.%20TEXAS%20WRESTLING%20ASS'N II. Key Facts 1. During the 1996-1997 school year, the plaintiffs were juniors in the Arlington Independent School District and were members of their schools varsity wrestling team. In November of 1996, plaintiffs attended the North Texas Open wrestling tournament. When requesting to compete in mixed gender matches at the tournament, official members of TIWA and TWOA who were sanctioning the event denied them pursuant to a rule established by TIWA. In December of 1996, the plaintiffs brought this issue to the courts claiming that the associations sanctioning the tournament …show more content…

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which generally prohibits the discrimination of an athlete based on the gender of that particular athlete in athletic events. The court concluded that the plaintiffs may not claim discrimination under Title IX. Even though there is a lack of a Title IX violation, the actions of the defendants were still potentially unlawful. According to the Fourteenth Amendment, “No State shall…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” As alleged here, those who were in charge of the sanctioned event, discriminated against the plaintiffs based on their gender. For those who are seeking to defend their reasoning for denying the plaintiffs permission to participate in the mixed gender matches, must demonstrate a persuasive justification for their action of denying the participation. The IISD and schools did not have a discriminatory policy in place. Due to the absence of the plaintiff’s constitutional claims, the courts say that it isn’t clear that the Fourteenth Amendment was violated when the plaintiffs were denied permission in the mixed gender competition. These associations did not offer a mixed gender competition it was argued. No anti-discriminatory policies are written and in …show more content…

Upon agreeing to these rules put in place, they enforced them during any type of school-sponsored event. The defendants say that the IISD board was unaware of any type of anti-discrimination policy that was put in place; there was concern that the IISD did not formally put into place the associations’ formal policy of discrimination, because of the close relationship of the TIWA, TWOA, and IISD schools. These policies put into place by TIWA and TWOA are “state action.” The plaintiffs’ claims for compensatory damages are allowed to proceed to trial because they have presented the substantial evidence where it could be found in their favor if presented to a rational

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