Noah Feldman, Columnist

California's Weak Case Against Teacher Tenure

The logic a California judge used to strike down the state's teacher tenure law is pretty obviously flawed. Not every ill-drafted piece of legislation is unconstitutional.

June 11, 2014 at 3:33 PM UTC

By Noah Feldman

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

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State constitutions are law's Cinderellas. Ignored most of the time by their cruel stepsisters in the federal courts, they emerge suddenly as belles of the ball when a spectacular state court decision puts them front and center. The latest Prince Charming is the California judge who struck down teacher tenure as violating the right to education and equal protection. Unfortunately, the glass slipper doesn't fit. The decision yesterday by Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu is terribly reasoned -- and it should be reversed.

Begin with the obvious: California's teacher tenure laws seem hard to justify, apparently allowing tenure after two years, even before the credentialing process is complete. As a result, some teachers might be tenured without being credentialed.