A Michigan federal court judge ruled Friday that literacy is not a fundamental right in dismissing a lawsuit that charged the state denied Detroit Public School students their right to learn reading, the website MLive.com reported.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Murphy wrote in his 40-page opinion that while literacy is of "incalculable importance," to be considered a "fundamental right" there would have to be evidence that "neither liberty nor justice would exist absent state-provided literacy access," the website noted.
"The conditions and outcomes of plaintiffs' schools, as alleged, are nothing short of devastating," Murphy said in his opinion on the case, according to MLive.com. "When a child who could be taught to read goes untaught, the child suffers a lasting injury -- and so does society.
"But the court is faced with a discrete question: does the Due Process Clause demand that a state affirmatively provide each child with a defined, minimum level of education by which the child can attain literacy? Based on the foregoing analysis, the answer to the question is no," Murphy continued.
The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of students from the five of the lowest performing Detroit public schools, asking the government to intervene to improve the conditions there, MLive.com said.
The lawsuit had named Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, members of the state board of education, the state superintendent of public instruction, and other state officials as the defendants, according to the website.
The plaintiff said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press that they plan on appealing Murphy's ruling to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
"Friday's decision is as deeply disappointing as having to file a lawsuit in the first place to ensure that the state of Michigan denies no child the opportunity to thrive in schools worthy of their desire to learn," Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with the Los Angeles-based Public Counsel law firm, said in a statement, according to the Free Press.
"(The court) got it tragically wrong when it characterized access to literacy as a privilege, instead of a right held by all children so that they may better their circumstances and meaningfully participate in our political system," Rosenbaum continued.
Ari Adler, spokesman for Snyder, declined to comment on the pending litigation but added that the governor supports the education of Detroit's children, the Free Press said.
"But I would point out that Gov. Snyder has always been committed to doing what he can to ensure students in Detroit get a proper education so that Detroit's comeback can be complete," Adler told the Free Press.
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