Today, in the case of Johnson v. Bd. of Educ. for Albuquerque Pub. Schs., S-1-SC-39961 (2025), the New Mexico Supreme Court has held that public schools are “public accommodations” for purposes of the New Mexico Human Rights Act, and that students in public schools are entitled to the protections that the NMHRA provides against discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other protected classes listed in the statute.
In reaching its holding, the Court utilized a “plain-meaning” interpretive approach to the statutory language of the NMHRA, relying on Black’s Law Dictionary definitions of terms like “institution,” “school,” and “college” to show that public schools are “establishments that provide or offer their services to the public” – the definition of a “public accommodation” under the NMHRA. In reaching its holding, the Court also overruled a contrary holding in Human Rights Commission of New Mexico v. Board of Regents of University of New Mexico College of Nursing, 1981-NMSC-026, 624 P.2d 518, noting that the Regents decision relied on an unduly narrow reading of the NMHRA and took a blinkered approach to the statute’s anti-discriminatory purposes.
In noting the relative dearth of remedial venues for students facing discrimination in public school settings, the Court stated that a continued adherence to the Regents rule “would continue to perpetuate historic inequities.” Johnson at ¶ 24. In concluding its opinion, the Court stated that “[f]inding that educational institutions are public accommodations under the NMHRA would be the most logical way to provide a remedy for discrimination by educational institutions, because no remedy is otherwise expressly provided in New Mexico.” Id. at ¶ 28.
In an era where atavistic forces seek to reinvigorate a culture of discrimination in public accommodations, the New Mexico Supreme Court has provided a powerful remedial bulwark to our state’s students – and a powerful rebuke to those who would attack our state’s students for the offense of being who they are.