In Chaudhry v. Thorsen, (ND IL, March 18, 2026), an Illinois federal district court rejected Establishment Clause, substantive due process, and equal protection claims against Pierre Thorsen, a high school history teacher, brought by Muslim parents of one of Thorsen's students. According to the court:
Entering Jacobs High School, Aliya—the daughter of Chaudhry and Alvi—identified as Muslim but was actively questioning her faith. In two classes with Thorsen, she established a strong rapport with him. She trusted him enough to approach him and ask personal questions related to her faith, having conversations before and after school.... As Aliya gradually chose to convert from Islam to Christianity, Thorsen grew concerned for her well-being given the ongoing family dynamics that she professed to him. He connected her to resources in the community, some of which included his own personal connections: a neighbor, a pastor, and former students. He also, at her request, gave her a Bible from one of these connections.....
Parents suffer no legal injury when their child uses his or her own free will and independent judgment to embrace beliefs that differ from their own....
Thorsen’s actions weren’t coercive. He never forced Aliya to talk to him. Rather, she initiated their conversations. When they talked, he didn’t badger Aliya into changing her beliefs. Instead, he talked with her about his own beliefs while also encouraging her to speak to her parents and an imam when she expressed doubts about her religion. It may not have been appropriate for Thorsen to ... connect her with adults in the community, particularly without at least looping in Jacobs’ administration or social workers, if not Aliya’s parents. But this doesn’t violate the Constitution, because Aliya wasn’t coerced into religious activity. Inappropriateness doesn’t necessarily violate the Constitution....
Distinguishing between “historical” teachings consistent with what every high school history student should know and “theological” lessons better reserved for Sunday School is a difficult line to draw, but, wherever it is drawn, Thorsen didn’t cross it.
As a matter of law, Thorsen’s actions didn’t impermissibly establish religion in violation of the Establishment Clause....
The leap required to get from his actions—assisting Aliya in a pre-existing religious journey—to a nefarious discriminatory intent against Muslims as a class, is far beyond the capabilities of a reasonable jury, and the Court can’t allow the claim to proceed as a matter of law.
