Draft:Arab Student Union of Jackson–Reed High School v. District of Columbia et. al

Incomplete

Arab Student Union of Jackson–Reed High School v. District of Columbia is an ongoing federal lawsuit in United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit alleges that the Principal of Jackson-Reed High School, Sah Brown, has violated the Free Speech Clause by restricting the activities of the Arab Student Union on Jackson-Reed's campus.

Background
In December 2023, after 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, school officials denied a request by the school's Arab Student Union to show “The Occupation of the American Mind", a film accusing Israel of disproportionately influencing American media and public perception on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, due to accusations of antisemitism. The narrator of the film, Roger Waters, has received significant backlash due to some of his criticisms of the state of Israel, with many deeming his rhetoric as "antisemitic". However, Waters has dismissed these accusations as a conflation of anti-Zionism as being anti-Semitism.

The Arab Student Union has also tried to organize many other events for students since the start of the Israel-Hamas War. Jackson-Reed students were in attendance at the March on Washington for Gaza. The Arab Student Union also tried to organize a Palestinian Culture Night in January, but the event was prevented from happening on school grounds. The student union initially held a Palestinian Culture Night at the Busboys and Poets restaurant in Takoma Park. However, the school eventually approved the Palestinian Culture Night, and it was held in April 2024 on campus.

Lawsuit
On April 24, 2024, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Arab Student Union, alleging that the restriction of the student union's activities violate their free speech rights. In a press release, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, whose names have been hidden, argues that the administration at Jackson-Reed restricted their speech "because the school does not want their viewpoint—which concerns the ongoing war in Gaza and its effects on the Palestinian people—to be heard."

Because the lawsuit was filed near the end of the school calendar for Jackson-Reed, the attorneys for the Arab Student Union additionally filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction, which included a list of emergency demands which were to be met by the school before the end of the school year. These demands included: