Rachel Ross's Case Against Alpine High School

Rachel Ross is bringing suit against Alpine High School and the Principal Nick Ruiz for violating her first amendment right, by barring her publication of an opinion article in the student-run newspaper. Rachel is a senior at Alpine High School who is maintaining a 4.0 GPA, is Vice President of the student body, part of the varsity swim team and debate team, and is a writer for the student-run newspaper. Rachel has never been the subject of any disciplinary action and is a regular attendee of the school’s political conference, which is an open forum that discusses both sides of political issues.
The student body of Alpine High School creates a newspaper called the Sentential that contains various columns including an opinion column named “Our
At several points last semester there were peaceful protests which interrupted classes, but no students were harmed. Sometime after the protests, a fellow student at Alpine High School wrote a one-sided article called “It’s Time to Dump Trump” in which he explained in a detailed manner the failings of President Trump in his opinion. He stated that Trump was an “ignorant, unstable, racist, misogynistic, narcissist who has degraded the once esteemed position of president”. In response to the student’s article, Rachel wrote the “Truth about Trump” where she strives to fill in the gaps that “It’s Time to Dump Trump” left and educate her classmates on the successes of the Trump administration. Both articles near the end have a call to action. The other student wrote, “we cannot allow President Trump to continue to denigrate not only for our democratic institutions but us the American people” he states that “it is time for action, for resistance and yes even revolution if it comes to it.” In the “Truth about Trump” Rachel states that, “We must be vigilant in protecting our country and willing to do whatever is necessary to fight back against those who seek to see President Trump and America fail” she also states that “true Americans do not cower but take the fight directly to the enemy.” Both similar in their demands, the key difference is one article was published and one was not. Principle Ruiz stated that
Rodgers to never publish Rachel’s article. He stated that Rachel’s article was not in line with the school’s message of supporting the student body, community, and country. He said her information was credible, but her viewpoint was controversial and would incite violence among the student population if published. Whereas in the article “It’s time to Dump Trump” he stated that its content supported the school’s role in helping students come to terms with the reality of the situation, stating that the article called for unity and rejection of hate, while Rachel’s called for division. Principal Ruiz makes it a point to point out the language and the call for action in Rachel’s article but never mentions the language nor call for action in the other student's