CHEYENNE JOHNSON, as Next Friend as to X.M., a minor v. MOUNT PLEASANT PUBLIC SCHOOLS, JASON RUSSELL, in his personal capacity - Articles

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CHEYENNE JOHNSON, as Next Friend as to X.M., a minor v. MOUNT PLEASANT PUBLIC SCHOOLS, JASON RUSSELL, in his personal capacity

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Sep 30, 2025

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ON BRIEF: Kailen C. Piper, O’NEILL, WALLACE & DOYLE, Saginaw, Michigan, for Appellant.

Attorneys 2: ON BRIEF: Herbert A. Sanders, THE SANDERS LAW FIRM, P.C., Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Judge(s): BATCHELDER, GIBBONS, and BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Bay City

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. This is a case about a public-school teacher, Jason Russell, who had good reason to believe that a student, X.M., brought a handgun to school; Russell’s actions to protect against that threat; and the lawsuit by Cheyenne Johnson, X.M.’s mother, against Russell for those actions. In this interlocutory appeal, Russell challenges the district court’s denial of qualified immunity on Johnson’s claims of Fourth Amendment violations. The district court denied Russell’s motion because it decided that certain disputed facts required a determination by a jury, and our dissenting colleague agrees. But the critical fact—and arguably the only material fact—is not in dispute: Russell had good cause to believe that X.M. might have had a gun at school. Because the other facts in dispute are not material to Russell’s qualified immunity defense, and because Russell—as a matter of law—did not violate X.M.’s clearly established constitutional rights, even under X.M.’s version of the facts, we REVERSE.

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