Judge Sues School For Defamation Stemming From Student Gun Protests :: 10/11/2018

While we all agree we don’t want our schools to become killing grounds, many of us would rather they not become battlegrounds at all. In theory, our schools are supposed to educate our children and nothing else.

Last year, however, students all over the country decided to interject politics into their schools and planned walkouts in support of gun control. While they do have that right, the schools seemed to fall all over themselves to support the measure. Then, when pro-gun students wanted to counter, schools suddenly found themselves tripping over themselves to get in the way.

However, sometimes it seems that the schools and even the students went way overboard. For example, allegedly spreading falsehoods about a sitting judge.

CARLSBAD – A state district judge has filed a defamation lawsuit against a local school board and several employees, claiming scurrilous and malicious false statements – including that she was part of a “white power movement” – were made about the judge and no school district official repudiated them, even though it was their duty to do so.

Fifth Judicial District Judge Lisa Riley on Thursday filed the suit against the Carlsbad Municipal School Board, its superintendent, a principal, another school employee and the treasurer of the LULAC national organization.

The conflict stems from a demonstration organized on school grounds by the plaintiff Lisa Riley’s son Will Riley in support of gun rights following demonstrations at schools around the country calling for firearm restrictions after the February school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

The complaint was in response to allegations made by League of United Latin American Citizens Treasurer Paul Martinez that Riley called Carlsbad High School Principal Adam Amador a “dumb Mexican” during a phone call.

It also said district employee Liza Carrasco told a mostly Hispanic crowd during a local concert that Riley was part of a “white power movement.”

“Plaintiffs made no such comments and these allegations are not only untrue but they are scurrilous, vicious, mean-spirited, defamatory and totally made up by Defendant Amador and ratified and promulgated by Paul ‘Pablo’ Martinez,” the suit said.

The suit also accused Carlsbad Municipal Schools Superintendent Gregory Rodriguez and members of the Carlsbad Municipal School Board for inaction in addressing Riley’s concerns.

Now, let’s be honest here. For the last decade or so, there’s been a push to label any disagreement with a minority as racism. I wouldn’t be surprised if the claim that Riley is part of the “white power movement” stems from the simple fact that she dares to disagree with them.

But if all this happened as Riley claims, then yeah, she almost has to fight it.

There are a few things in this world that are beyond the pale to accuse someone of being without evidence. A pedophile, a rapist, or a racist are pretty much the top three in no particular order. If you call someone any of those, state it as a fact, and you don’t have evidence to back that up, you deserve everything that happens to you.

If that is indeed what happened here, then it seems likely that because Riley and her son refused to bow down before the altar of gun control, it was enough of a reason to claim she’s racist.

I hope she hammers them until it hurts.

Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton/

https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2018/10/10/judge-sues-school-defamation-stemming-student-gun-protests/