Hadnot v. Lufkin ISD

── Hadnot v. Lufkin ISD ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Date: June 04, 2026 Category: Civil Rights Case: 25-40196 Document: 103-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/04/2026 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals ____________ Fifth Circuit FILED No. 25-40196 June 4, 2026 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Mickey Hadnot, Plaintiff—Appellant, versus Lufkin Independent School District; Lynn Torres; Jay Jost; David Rodriguez; Tamesha Forrest; Gilberto Tinajero, Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas USDC No. 9:24-CV-220 ______________________________ Before King, Higginson, and Duncan, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam: * In 2019, Plaintiff-Appellant Mickey Hadnot applied for a position as a police officer with the Lufkin Independent School District (LISD). LISD hired two officers but not Hadnot. In 2023, he sued LISD and LISD employees involved in the hiring decision, asserting claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for First Amendment retaliation, Fourteenth Amendment due _____________________ * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 25-40196 Document: 103-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/04/2026 No. 25-40196 process and equal protection violations, conspiracy to violate his constitutional rights, and a bill of attainder under Article I of the Constitution. The district court dismissed his claims as time-barred. We AFFIRM. I In 2015, Hadnot filed a grievance against LISD, alleging that his son and other black student athletes experienced racial discrimination on their high school baseball team. Four years later in June 2019, Hadnot, a career law enforcement officer with more than thirty years of experience, applied for a vacant school resource officer position with LISD. A panel of LISD employees—including Defendants Jay Jost, Tamesha Forrest, and David Rodriguez—interviewed Hadnot, but it ultimately hired two other candidates, Jeff Taylor and Gilberto Tinajero. Hadnot filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in August 2019, asserting that LISD hired Tinajero because of his race. Hadnot largely based his EEOC charge on information obtained from a member of the interview panel, Ralph Bean, who allegedly told Hadnot that the hiring process had been “gamed” against him. Hadnot also filed suit in Texas state court shortly after the hiring decision, alleging LISD refused to hire him because of his race in violation of the Texas Labor Code. The trial court granted summary judgment to LISD in 2023. The Texas Twelfth Court of Appeals affirmed the summary judgment in 2024, holding that the trial court properly found Hadnot did not present evidence that he was the victim of intentional race discrimination. Meanwhile, in 2022, Hadnot filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, alleging Tinajero made false statements 2 Case: 25-40196 Document: 103-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 06/04/2026 No. 25-40196 concerning his e