Plaintiff is a professional musician who has worked as a private music teacher for over thirty years.
asserted
who → work → years
During the 2023-2024 school year, plaintiff worked as an independent contractor at Valley Catholic Music School … [teaching] private violin and cello lessons to Valley Catholic students in practice rooms across the K-12 campus.
asserted
plaintiff → work → campus
Plaintiff also taught strings classes to students and non-student community members at Valley Catholic's summer camp.
asserted
Plaintiff → teach → camp
"Prior to August 2024, [plaintiff] posted some of [her] opinions regarding certain geopolitical events, including but not limited to the war in Gaza and its occupation by Israeli armed forces, on [her] personal Facebook page."
asserted
plaintiff → post → page
Plaintiff expressed these views "entirely outside of the summer music camp and the private lessons with [her] students at Valley Catholic" and did not share or discuss these opinions with her students.
asserted
Plaintiff → express → students
StopAntisemitism is a national organization focused on highlighting threats to Jewish safety and civil rights.
asserted
StopAntisemitism → focus → safety
One of the ways it seeks to do this is by publishing recurring features "designed to inform the public about antisemitism expressed by public figures, educators, activists, and institutions," including a recurring feature entitled "Corrupting the Classroom."
asserted
it → seek → Classroom
Through the "Corrupting the Classroom" feature, StopAntisemitism shares publicly accessible statements made by various educators, along with defendants' commentary on the statements.
asserted
StopAntisemitism → corrupt → statements
On August 21, 2024, StopAntisemitism shared on its X.com profile a "Corrupting the Classroom" feature focused on plaintiff.
asserted
StopAntisemitism → share → plaintiff
The feature, which was spread across several X posts, includes screenshots of statements plaintiff made on her public Facebook account, archived links to those Facebook posts, and defendants' statements about plaintiff and her posts.
asserted
plaintiff → spread → plaintiff
Defendants' first posts begin by stating, "Warning to parents of students in Beaverton, OR.
asserted
posts → begin → Beaverton
Valley Catholic High School's Sue Lewis is not just instructing in the music school—she's using her platform to spread vile antisemitic hate online."
asserted
she → instruct → hate
Following that is a bulleted list that states that plaintiff "claims Israel killed its own citizens during the October 7th massacre by Hamas terrorists[, ] calls upon Hamas to destroy Israel[, and] denounces the atrocities of Hamas against innocent Israeli victims."
uncertain
Israel → follow → victims
The next post begins, "Sue Lewis continues her antisemitic tirades."
asserted
Lewis → begin → tirades
It is then followed by its own bulleted list, stating that plaintiff "denies the Jewish connection to Israel[; ] claims Jews control humanity, a dangerous trope[; and] labels Zionism (Jewish self-determination) a terror movement based on Jewish supremacy.
uncertain
Jews → follow → supremacy
The post concludes by stating, "Students at [Valley Catholic] are in grave danger under Sue Lewis.
asserted
Students → conclude → Lewis
Below the final statement is an archived list of plaintiff's Facebook posts.
asserted
list → archive → posts
Screenshots of AntiSemitism's posts are shown below:
asserted
Screenshots → show → posts
Four of plaintiff's archived posts are particularly relevant to this motion.
asserted
Four → archive → motion
The first is a photograph, which plaintiff posted on February 16, 2024, that appears to show plaintiff wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh.
asserted
plaintiff → post → keffiyeh
The remaining four posts contain only text.
asserted
posts → remain → text
The first post, which was shared by plaintiff on November 2, 2023, states, "Yeah these Hamas militants are going to wipe out Israel with their homemade bombs, small arms, hang gliders, grenades and slingshots.
asserted
militants → share → bombs
The second post, which plaintiff shared on October 22, 2018, states, "If Jewish people want their own state they shouldn't not put it on some else's state.
asserted
they → share → state
Genocide is no way to make a state!"
asserted
Genocide → make → state
The third post, which plaintiff shared on April 4, 2024, appears to show a dictionary-style definition of "Zionism" as "[a]n inherently violent & terroristic movement for colonizing Palestine through the theft of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians in order to create a Jewish-supremacist settler colony."
asserted
plaintiff → share → colony
The fourth and final post, which plaintiff shared on October 21, 2018, states, "Zionist Jews have managed to mentally condition humanity to accept and remain silent as they commit genocide in Palestine."
asserted
they → share → Palestine
Following defendants' feature, plaintiff "received a torrent of hateful comments and direct messages, some of which were violent and threatening, from strangers who had read" the posts.
asserted
who → follow → posts
On August 21, 2024—the same day that StopAntisemitism shared its feature on plaintiff—Valley Catholic informed plaintiff that it would not be renewing her contract for the 2024-2025 school year….
asserted
it → share → year
Defendants moved to dismiss the case under Oregon's anti-SLAPP statute, which allows for prompt dismissal of legally meritless lawsuits that are brought over speech on matters of "public interest."
asserted
that → move → interest
The court agreed that the posts were indeed on such matters:
asserted
posts → agree → matters
Although the parties debate the exact scope of the challenged posts, the outcome is the same under either framing.
asserted
outcome → debate → framing
Defendants argue the posts concern antisemitism, Israel, Palestine, and the war in Gaza—topics plaintiff concedes are issues of clear public interest.
asserted
plaintiff → argue → interest
Plaintiff counters that the posts' messaging is far narrower, cabined strictly to plaintiff's personal views on these issues.
asserted
messaging → counter → issues
Plaintiff, however, is an educator, and the public is indeed interested in educators' viewpoints on controversial topics, particularly where the educator has posted those viewpoints online for the world to see…
asserted
world → post → viewpoints
And the court concluded that the claim was indeed legally meritless:
[A]ll the challenged statements are protected opinions under the First Amendment….
Plaintiff challenges four statements here.
uncertain
Plaintiff → conclude → statements
The first is one of several bullet points listed under the statement "Valley Catholic High School's Sue Lewis is not just instructing in the music school—she's using her platform to spread vile antisemitic hate online."
asserted
she → list → hate
The first challenged statement then reads: (1) "calls upon Hamas to destroy Israel."
asserted
statement → challenge → Israel
The second and third statements are bullet points that follow the statement, "Sue Lewis continues her antisemitic tirades."
asserted
Lewis → follow → tirades
These statements read: (2) "denies the Jewish connection to Israel," and (3) "claims jews control humanity, a dangerous trope."
uncertain
jews → read → trope
Fourth and finally, plaintiff challenges a statement that follows the second list of bullet points.
asserted
that → challenge → points
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
