Since May 2020, LDF – along with co-counsel Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP– has represented De’Andre Arnold, his mother Sandy Arnold, and his cousin Kaden Bradford in their hair discrimination lawsuit against the Barbers Hill Independent School District (“BHISD”) in Mont Belvieu, Texas about 30 miles east of Houston. BHISD has repeatedly made international headlines for harshly disciplining Native American and Black boys who refuse to cut their culturally significant hair to comply with BHISD’s grooming policy. After BHISD revised its grooming policy in December 2019, De’Andre and Kaden – who had been growing uncut locs for years in homage to their Black and Trinidadian heritage – found themselves assigned to in-school suspension and excluded from extracurricular activities and graduation. LDF’s complaint alleges that BHISD’s construction and enforcement of its hair policy constitutes unlawful sex and race discrimination and a violation of our clients’ right to freedom of expression. The complaint also seeks relief from BHISD’s retaliation against Mrs. Arnold after she spoke out against the policy. The complaint further alleges that, not only did BHISD selectively enforce its discriminatory hair policy to target Black students with uncut locs, but, when the discrimination made the local news, BHISD ramped up enforcement of the hair policy against other students in an apparent attempt to conceal the selective enforcement.
In August 2020, after a 27-hour evidentiary hearing involving the testimony of 10 witnesses, we obtained a preliminary injunction barring the school district from enforcing its hair policy against our client Kaden Bradford, allowing Kaden to finally return to class (De’Andre had already graduated by then). Citing “evidence in the record of selective enforcement, procedural irregularities, and increasingly restrictive amendments [to the hair policy], coupled with the lack of a persuasive justification for the hair-length policy,” the Court held that K.B. had established a substantial likelihood of success on his gender discrimination, race discrimination, and First Amendment claims. The court’s decision generated significant positive press coverage, including on CNN, NBC, and the Houston Chronicle, and energized activism and advocacy surrounding the CROWN Act, with De’Andre and LDF’s former Director of Policy Lisa Cylar Barrett testifying before the Texas House of Representatives Committee for State Affairs concerning proposed versions of the legislation during the 2021 session. On May 27, 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the signed the Texas CROWN Act into law.
The court’s decision prompted the Texas Association of School Boards to update its guidance governing student dress and grooming codes across public schools in Texas; the ACLU of Texas to notify approximately 500 Texas school districts of the decision and urge them to revise discriminatory dress codes; and the National Federation of State High School Associations to recommend schools eliminate grooming requirements for student-athletes that might disproportionately impact members of protected classes where the requirements are not justified by safety concerns. The case has been the subject of scholarly articles, CLE presentations, and law firm advisories, and has also been mentioned in treatises on student discipline law and injunctions. In addition, the court’s decision has led multiple school districts to revise their dress codes to remove discriminatory language. LDF’s success in Arnold v. Barbers Hill Independent School District also inspired similar lawsuits that resulted in additional injunctions barring the enforcement of discriminatory grooming policies in other school districts.
LDF has since defeated a motion for partial dismissal of the case (read LDF’s brief here). The case was proceeding to trial when the school district filed an interlocutory appeal of a pretrial discovery order. The case has since been stayed pending resolution of the appeal. On February 7, 2024, LDF argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on behalf of our clients. On September 2, 2025, the organization reargued the case, highlighting that, among other things, the school district lacked standing to appeal. On Monday, November 3, the Fifth Circuit agreed with LDF and dismissed the appeal. The case is now moving forward to trial again.
