MAP Forum

Among the liberties an American citizen enjoys is the right to associate with whomever he or she chooses for whatever purpose. That right, Alexis de Tocqueville observed in discussing it 168 years ago in his classic book is "almost as inalienable in its nature as [the right of] individual freedom." Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America 184 (Harvey C. Mansfield & Delba Winthrop eds. & trans., U. Chi. Press 2000) (1835).

Peter Melzer (plaintiff or appellant), a New York City school teacher at Bronx High School of Science (Bronx Science or school) asserts that his constitutional rights to freedom of association and speech were violated when the defendant Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York (defendant or Board) terminated his teaching position. He alleges that action was taken in retaliation for his membership in the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA or Association).

This appeal is from a judgment entered February 27, 2002 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Block, J.), dismissing plaintiff's 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights suit.