[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________

No. 19-14674 ________________________

D.C. Docket No. 1:18-cv-04224-TCB

TOMMIA DEAN,

Plaintiff - Appellant, versus NEIL WARREN,

Defendant - Appellee. ________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ________________________

(September 2, 2021)

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, JILL PRYOR and ED CARNES, Circuit Judges. USCA11 Case: 19-14674 Date Filed: 09/02/2021 Page: 2 of 47

JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judge:*

Joining a national movement intended to curb police brutality against African Americans and advance the cause of racial justice, Tommia Dean, a cheerleader at one of Georgia’s public universities, and a handful of her teammates kneeled during the pre-game national anthem at one of the university’s football games. What followed, according to Dean, was a public and private conspiracy— orchestrated by the university’s leadership, the county sheriff, and a Georgia legislator—to deprive Dean and her teammates of their First Amendment rights. Seeking redress, Dean filed this action alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and § 1985(3).

The only issue on appeal is whether the district court erred by dismissing Dean’s § 1985(3) claim against the sheriff, Neil Warren. The district court concluded that Dean failed to state a § 1985(3) claim because she failed to plausibly allege that Warren possessed the requisite class-based animus. After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we agree with the district court that Dean failed to surmount § 1985(3)’s class-based animus bar under the

* There are two majority opinions for the Court in this case. One is by Judge Jill Pryor, which all three judges join. The other majority opinion, which adds an alternative holding, is the concurring opinion of Chief Judge William Pryor, joined by Judge Ed Carnes. 2 USCA11 Case: 19-14674 Date Filed: 09/02/2021 Page: 3 of 47

standard established by Supreme Court precedent. We therefore affirm the district court’s order dismissing Dean’s claim against Warren.

I. BACKGROUND A. Factual Background 1

During the National Football League’s 2016 season, Colin Kaepernick, a San Francisco 49ers quarterback, refused to stand for the national anthem. Instead, he kneeled in protest of police brutality against African Americans.2 His kneeling ignited a national controversy concerning police brutality, the appropriateness of kneeling in protest during presentations of the national anthem, and racial injustice in America.

Kaepernick’s kneeling encouraged other athletes to kneel, including a group of African American cheerleaders at Kennesaw State University, a public university in Georgia. Dean, the plaintiff, was one of those cheerleaders. After she and her teammates kneeled in protest for the first time in September 2017, several public and private individuals conspired to prevent Dean and her teammates from kneeling during the national anthem as a form of protest.

1 Because this case is an appeal from an order granting a motion to dismiss, we accept as true all well-pled allegations in the complaint and construe them in the light most favorable to Dean. Blevins v. Aksut, 849 F.3d 1016, 1018–19 (11th Cir. 2017). We therefore recite the facts as Dean has alleged them. 2