Texas School Moves to Toss ‘Clock Boy’ Discrimination Lawsuit

Ahmed the Clock Boy
AP Photo/LM Otero

The attorneys for the Irving Independent School District and MacArthur High School Principal Daniel Cummings filed motions in Dallas’ U.S. District Court late Tuesday seeking to dismiss the federal lawsuit filed by Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed on behalf of his son, “Clock Boy” Ahmed Mohamed.

School district attorneys, Thompson & Horton LLP, urged the federal judge to dismiss the entire case against Irving ISD stating the “Plaintiff failed to state a claim for which relief can be granted and thus the claims against Irving ISD should be dismissed.” The 34-page document argues that the plaintiff’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed and his legal team, failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted.

In a separate 26-page motion to dismiss the case against the MacArthur High School principal, the attorneys urged the lawsuit failed to plead facts sufficient to overcome the Cummings “qualified immunity,” “plead facts showing that the public official, through his own individual actions, violated the Constitution,” or state a claim on which relief could be granted.

On August 8, Hutchison & Stoy PLLC, the attorneys for Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed on behalf of his minor son, Ahmed Mohamed, filed a federal lawsuit in Dallas against Irving ISD, MacArthur High School Principal Cummings, and the City of Irving. It alleged Ahmed Mohamed’s civil rights were violated after he brought a homemade clock device to school that resembled a hoax bomb, which Breitbart Texas reported. The lawsuit also alleged discriminatory discipline based on the teen’s race and religion and claimed Cummings acted pursuant to an unconstitutional policy or practice sanctioned by the Irving ISD Board of Trustees.

The attorneys also urged if the Court declined to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims, they “strike the extraneous and irrelevant assertions in the Complaint.” The Irving ISD motions argue the lawsuit’s use of flowery and emotive language, a purported U.S. immigration and discrimination “history,” quotations ranging from Lincoln to JFK and Lyndon Johnson, as well as “allegations designed to prejudicially link Principal Cummings to incidents at other times and in other places” fail to show “specific allegations of facts that were taken with discriminatory intent,” or “specific factual allegations of equal protection violations against students,” and “specific unlawful disciplinary practice.” The attorneys argue the lawsuit does not state claims for which relief can be granted.

One of the points attorneys argued in the school district’s motion to dismiss summary was that public schools have a “substantial interest” in “maintaining discipline in the classroom and on school grounds.” The document stated: “The device was disturbing enough that a teacher directed him to keep the device in his backpack — an instruction that A.M. promptly disobeyed in his English class.”

“Even in schools that have been spared the most severe disciplinary problems, the preservation of order and a proper educational environment requires close supervision of schoolchildren, as well as the enforcement of rules against conduct that would be perfectly permissible if undertaken by an adult,” the motion states.

Breitbart Texas obtained a written statement from Irving ISD regarding their attorneys filing these motions. It stated:

Irving ISD retained legal counsel to respond to a lawsuit filed by a former student. Today, legal counsel submitted preliminary motions seeking dismissal of the claims against the school district and its employee.  Both Irving ISD and its employee deny that they violated the law in any way, and deny all allegations asserted in the plaintiff’s complaint.

Because this matter is in litigation, Irving ISD officials will have no further comment at this time. Irving ISD employees are focused on serving the district’s nearly 35,000 students. The district is committed to assisting each student achieve his or her maximum educational potential in a safe and secure environment.

In the accompanying email, Irving ISD stated: “It is the policy of Irving ISD not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender or handicap in its vocational programs, services or activities as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972; Section 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.”

Last year, Breitbart Texas reported zero tolerance was behind the teen’s situation as did the Associated Press.

In late September, Mohamed filed a defamation lawsuit on behalf of his son against The Blaze, Glenn Beck, Fox Television Stations, LLC, Texas resident Ben Ferguson, Ben Shapiro, and the City of Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne. Breitbart Texas reported the plaintiff’s father asked for general and special damages, also naming the Center for Security Policy and Executive Vice President Jim Hanson as defendants.

Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter.

Defendant Irving Independent School District’s Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Strike and Brief in Support by BreitbartTexas on Scribd

Defendant Daniel Cummings’s Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Strike and Brief in Support by BreitbartTexas on Scribd

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