- A Davidson County family continues its push for an injunction against the local school system. The family's federal lawsuit challenges a high school student's suspension for saying the words "illegal alien" in class.
- Lawyers for Leah and Chad McGhee argue that son Christian's suspension amounted to a "core First Amendment violation."
- The case has attracted national attention, including a friend-of-the-court brief from the Immigration Reform Law Institute.
A Davidson County family continues to press for an injunction against the local school system. Parents Leah and Chad McGhee sued the school board and an administrator over son Christian’s 2024 suspension for saying the words “illegal alien” in class.
The latest brief filed Tuesday in federal court supported the McGhees’ motion for a preliminary injunction against Davidson schools. Christian McGhee is identified as “C.M.” in court documents.
“In their Opposition Brief, Defendants impermissibly attempt to rewrite the narrative underlying C.M.’s suspension — in conflict with both their official suspension records and the recorded conversation between C.M.’s parents and Defendant [Eric] Anderson,” wrote McGhee’s lawyers. “But even within their rewritten narrative, the core First Amendment violation remains clear: C.M. was punished harshly because he used the phrase ‘illegal’ alien which, despite having a long history as a legally accurate and neutral phrase, was declared by Defendants (without warning) to be so ‘offensive’ that it justified punishment on par with use of the most heinous racial slurs.”
The McGhees are likely to win a First Amendment complaint, their lawyers argued. “Defendants continue to justify the suspension by declaring, without support, that the phrase ‘illegal aliens’ is so ‘offensive’ that punishment is necessarily justified,” the court filing explained. “But under Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit precedent, an administrator’s subjective feeling of ‘offense’ cannot be the basis upon which students are punished. Nor can Defendants justify the suspension by declaring that other students were offended, as this would endorse a ‘heckler’s veto’ in violation of Fourth Circuit precedent.”
The legal dispute stemmed from an incident in a Central Davidson High School English class. When the word “alien” cropped up in a class discussion, Christian McGhee asked his teacher whether the word referred to a “space alien or illegal alien without a green card.” The comment prompted a suspension from school, which the McGhees could not appeal.
“Defendants attempt to downplay their due process violation — the denial of any right to appeal — by characterizing the suspension as ‘minor,’” McGhee’s lawyers wrote in the latest brief. “But the Fourth Circuit has never held that a three-day out-of-school suspension may, as a matter of law, be levied without the opportunity to appeal.”
“Defendants disregard C.M. and his mother’s concrete assertions of irreparable harm resulting from the denial of a preliminary injunction, and instead substitute their own speculation that he would not be harmed,” the court filing continued. “Putting aside the obvious harm of branding a child as racist in his school records, the likely chilling of a student’s protected speech is sufficiently harmful to support a preliminary injunction.”
“Defendants fail to articulate any concrete harm that they would suffer from a preliminary injunction, whereas the harm to C.M. from the suspension, and the harm to the public arising from constitutional violations, is evident,” the brief added.
The Immigration Reform Law Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief in July 2024 supporting McGhee’s cause.
“There has been a push in recent years to ban the term ‘alien,’ and, more specifically, ‘illegal alien,’” IRLI lawyers wrote. “As replacements, such terms as ‘undocumented immigrant’ or ‘noncitizen,’ both of which are factually and legally incorrect, are urged.”
“The increased use of these inaccurate terms is of particular concern to those who care about the integrity of America’s borders and its immigration system in general,” the brief continued. “Such anodyne terms may seem harmless, but their use creates both confusion in the legal system and the implication that violating U.S. immigration law is not a serious action with a serious consequence. Use of proper legal terms is essential to the administration of immigration law in the United States.”
“In this case, plaintiff is a minor student who was suspended from school for asking his teacher to distinguish between extra-terrestrial aliens and aliens who are human,” the institute’s lawyers wrote. “His use of the term ‘alien’ to refer to the human variety was deemed a racial slur by both the school and the Davidson County Board of Education.”
“IRLI writes in support of Plaintiff’s constitutional arguments” and supports “the propriety of using the term ‘alien’ when discussing immigration,” according to the brief.
The Davidson County school board filed a motion in June to dismiss the lawsuit. The school argues that its policies do not violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Additionally, they argue that Christian’s due process rights were not violated because he was afforded a hearing prior to his suspension in compliance with state law and school policy. They say he was not entitled to appeal his short-term suspension under state law. The motion also argues that the McGhees failed to establish liability against the Davidson school board.
In a 2024 interview with Carolina Journal, Leah McGhee said the family never wanted the situation to turn into a lawsuit. They wanted to resolve the issue with school officials, but board members never responded to multiple emails.
“It could have been settled in the classroom as a teachable moment, but here we are with a lawsuit that no one ever wanted,” Leah McGhee explained.