Attorneys say McQueen retaliated against student gun protester after complaint from Amodei

Civil rights attorneys say McQueen High School unconstitutionally retaliated against a 17-year-old student after U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., complained to the administration about a call the student made to his office.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada on Monday sent a letter to the Washoe County School District demanding that McQueen overturn a two-day suspension awarded last week to Noah Christiansen, who was disciplined after using “disrespectful behavior/language” on a phone call with Amodei’s office.

The ACLU sent a similar letter to Amodei calling on the Republican congressman to withdraw the complaint his office lodged with McQueen and apologize to Christiansen, who spoke with an office staffer during Wednesday’s widespread student walkout protesting legislative inaction on gun control in the wake of a deadly Feb. 14 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

More: Scores of students across Reno-Sparks walk out in protest over political inaction on guns

Related: 'We deserve better': Students nationwide walk out in massive protest over gun violence

During the 17-minute walkout, Christiansen said he called Amodei’s office and asked that the congressman vote to make bump stocks illegal and raise the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 years to 21 years.

He admitted telling a staffer something to the effect of “congress people who are not acting on gun control reforms need to get off their f---ing asses and do something.”

The high school junior and aspiring attorney said that didn’t warrant a suspension.

“I’m smart enough to use better words than the f-word,” Christiansen said. “At the same time, even if I do want to use those words, it’s my right to do so.”

The ACLU agreed.

“It is unbelievable that a constituent should have to worry about calling a Congressional office to share their opinions because your congressman’s office might retaliate against you by reporting you to your school or place of employment,” Tod Story, ACLU of Nevada’s executive director, said in a statement. “The retaliation by Congressman Amodei’s office is a betrayal of the First Amendment and of the representative process.

“Nothing this constituent did was illegal, and we hope Congressman Amodei would be as interested in the opinions of students as anyone who seeks to ‘petition the government.’”

The statement goes on to call Christiansen a model student and a major player on his school’s debate team. Christiansen said he was recently elected class secretary, but will not be able to serve in that role due to his suspension.

He hopes that, with the ACLU’s help, he can get that position restored, and have last week’s suspension cleared from his school record. He’s also seeking an apology from Amodei and school administrators.

Neither he nor civil rights attorneys ruled out filing a lawsuit over the suspension. Amy Rose, ACLU of Nevada’s legal director, said Christiansen was unaware of any other student who had been punished so harshly for using profanity.

Rose, writing in a Monday letter to school district Superintendent Traci Davis, suggested Christiansen’s suspension may have had something to do with his past public remarks on President Donald Trump — comments he said school administrators cited as evidence of his “prior bad behavior.”

“(McQueen) punished Noah for exercising his First Amendment right to engage in political speech,” Rose added. “As explained below, the discipline imposed is unconstitutional and must be overturned immediately.”

Reached late Monday, Amodei said he had no plans to apologize for disciplinary action taken by school administrators.

He said staffer Arturo Garzon had a right to report the call to McQueen, thought he too "kind of wondered" what went into the school's decision to take disciplinary action against Christiansen.

"I'm not going to apologize to (Christiansen) because he offended somebody he didn't even know," Amodei said. "The ACLU can do whatever it thinks is right."

The Washoe County School District said in a statement that it “honors, respects and adheres to the First Amendment of our U.S. Constitution.”

“No students were suspended for participation in walk out events on March 14,” wrote spokeswoman Victoria Campbell. “However, the district cannot discuss specific discipline of individual students due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

“The district expects students to act appropriately and with decorum. Some students were disciplined for breaking student conduct codes or participating in other inappropriate behavior.”