Ponce v. Socorro Independent School District

E.P. (plaintiff), a high school sophomore, kept a diary detailing a planned school shooting timed to his friends' graduation, which another student reported to school officials; after reviewing the notebook, the assistant principal determined it posed a terroristic threat, and E.P. was suspended and placed in an alternative-education program despite his claim the writing was fiction. E.P. sued the school district (defendant) under § 1983 for violating his First Amendment rights, and the district court granted a preliminary injunction against his placement in the alternative program.