First Liberty Institute
At First Liberty Institute’s request, we now know that senior student Sophia Shumaker at Rampart High School (Colorado Springs) was denied permission to personalize her senior parking spot with Christian imagery—despite the school’s tradition of letting seniors decorate their stalls.
Sophia had sketched a design featuring a shepherd on a hill, a staff and a sheep—clearly symbolic of her Christian faith—and included the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 13:4 (“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”).The school rejected it, pointing to policy language that bars student designs considered “religious” (as well as those ruled “offensive, negative, rude, gang-related, political, or trademarked”).
Undeterred, Sophia offered a trimmed-down version—just the abbreviated verse reference “1 Cor 13:4” with a neutral design—but was again told it would likely not pass. Faced with the possibility of forfeiting her parking spot if she changed the design one more time (the rule says if a design is first ruled unacceptable there’s only one chance to revise), she opted for a more subtle design: a group of fish with one swimming against the current, which she says quietly represents her faith.
The legal argument filed on her behalf states that when a school allows seniors to pay and paint their parking spots, it opens a “private speech” forum—meaning the student’s religious expression cannot be singled out for censorship simply because it is religious. The demand letter from First Liberty points out that while this particular school bans religious messages, other schools in the same school district—Academy School District 20—allow them. The inconsistency, they argue, shows the policy is viewpoint discriminatory.
First Liberty’s counsel summed it up: “The Constitution protects private, religious speech—even when it occurs on public school property. The school’s policy violates both the Free Speech Clause and the Free Exercise Clause because it targets … speech because of its religious viewpoint.” Sophia says her faith defines her identity, and she simply wanted that identity reflected in her parking spot. “My identity, everything about me, is through Christ. I just wanted that to be represented in my parking space,” she told local media.
The demand letter calls on the school district to reverse its rejection of her religious-design, permit her to paint the original version, and permanently remove the policy barring religious messages.
First Liberty Institute
This isn’t a school shutting down political speech or lewd slogans—this is a student being silenced for her faith.
The scenario perfectly depicts the double standard: when you allow “expression” but then say “except religious content”, you’re no longer protecting free speech—you’re picking winners and losers based on viewpoint.
The issue touches both the Free Speech Clause and Free Exercise Clause, reminding us that religious speech should not be treated as second-class.
It also demands accountability in public schools: if you allow a forum for students to decorate, you can’t allow only “approved” viewpoints.
Unless we push back, the message becomes—“yes, we encourage individuality … as long as you leave your faith at the door.”
