El-Hussain v. Dallas County

Summary

J. Boyle dismisses part of a civil rights lawsuit against Dallas County and three unnamed correctional officers. Three Muslim women claim they were arrested while protesting the Israel-Palestine conflict and that the officers forced them to remove their hijabs for their mugshots. The protesters’ civil rights claim against the county for alleged First Amendment violations is dismissed, as they have not sufficiently pleaded that the alleged violations were caused by an official policy or custom or by the county’s failure to adequately train its officers. The protesters’ claim that the county violated their right to freedom of worship under the Texas Constitution is also dismissed, as they are only seeking monetary damages and not equitable relief. However, the protesters’ declaratory judgment claim against the county is not dismissed; the protesters have sufficiently alleged they are experiencing continuing harm, as they claim their mugshots are stored in an online database that thousands of people have access to.