Johnson v. Board of Education

Native American student at public high school brought action against their teacher and the city’s board of education under the New Mexico Human Rights Act, alleging their teacher’s discriminatory conduct in reacting, during class, to Halloween costumes worn by the student and another Native American student. The court held that public schools is a “public accommodation” within the meaning of the Act, which makes discriminatory conduct in a public accommodation unlawful. In so holding, the court overruled Human Rights Commission of New Mexico v. Board of Regents of University of New Mexico College of Nursing, 624 P.2d 518, which had previously held that schools were not public accommodations, finding that the holding was “inconsistent with the plain language of the statute and . . . unsupported by precedent or legislative history.” The court further described the need to understand the Act’s protections “against the backdrop of [New Mexico’s] unfortunate history of race-based discrimination, including that history transpiring within [the state’s] public schools.”