Legal Case  | 1999- 2004 Articles

U.S. Supreme Court avoids Substance case

By George Schmidt

October 21, 2004

The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of the Substance lawsuit. On October 7, Substance attorneys learned that the Supreme Court had denied a writ of certiorari, thereby ending federal appeals on the case. This means that the 7th Circuit decision upholding the District Court in Chicago stands.

Much was won during the nearly six years we were in battle on these things.

1. By December 2002, the Board of Education voted to eliminate the CASE tests from its high school grading policy, thereby effectively acknowledging what we had contended all along, viz., that CASE was a waste of time and money.

2. By January 2004, the Board of Education had reduced its damages claims against Substance and editor George Schmidt to zero. Originally, on January 26, 1999, the school board had asked for $1.4 million in damages for the alleged copyright infringement.

3. The Board of Education also withdrew its petition for attorneys' fees and legal costs.

At the same time, the lengthy litigation did a great deal of damage to some of us, and to Substance.

1. I was fired from my teaching job in August 2000 by a vote of the Chicago Board of Education, one and a half years after I was suspended from my English teaching job at Bowen High School by Paul Vallas. That termination still stands, apparetnly barring me from ever teaching in Chicago's public schools again.

2. The enormous legal costs that had to be borne by Substance staff, our supporters, and my family have hurt all of us. At the same time, we stood for justice and against tyrannical testing.

3. Although I am still eligible for my teacher pension (based on my 28 years in Chicago's classrooms) when I reach 60 years of age, that pension is seriously reduced because I was taken out of the pension pool during what would have been the peak years of my earning power. That will impact my family not only when I retire eventually, but also for years to come, since survivor benefits to teacher pensioners are based on the pensioner's pension at the time of death. (50 percent).

4. The Board of Education has now established the dubious legal right to suppress public documents by invoking "copyright" against newspapers. This gives any tinpot tyrant like Paul Vallas the chance to suppress news any time he might want. Every petty official in the USA can further erode press freedom in this manner.

As we reorganize Substance in the next month for resumption of publication, we can all stand proud that we made a stand against the tyranny of standardized testing and the tyranny of the Daley dictatorship. It was costly, but we have stood for principle all along, and we can all be proud.

Thanks to all who have supporter us in this long struggle.

George N. Schmidt Substance