David is a Junior at St. Joseph's, a private religious High School. David's parents, Ricky and Gina, recently divorced due to irreconcilable differences. While they both love their son, they couldn't shelter him from the very acrimonious and public separation. Not very long after the couple's divorce became public, Peter, a sophomore at St. Joseph's began teasing him about his parent's divorce. Daily, Peter would comment on David's home life, embarrassing him in front of his peers. David became extremely intimidated and dreaded going to school, however his mother simply encouraged him to be the bigger person and ignore the comments.

In the two weeks since Peter first began teasing David, the comments increased in their level of abuse, rudeness, and overall scathing tone. Peter at one point commented that David's mom had not only had performed fellatio on him, but enjoyed it so much, which is why his parents separated. David never informed the school administration of the treatment as he merely attempted to ignore it as his mother had instructed.

Yesterday, Peter once again commented on David's home life during the lunch hour. David, in what observers described as an uncontrollable emotional outburst, suddenly punched Peter in the face, breaking both his jaw and fracturing Peter's nose. Peter now requires that his jaw be wired shut for several weeks while it heals.

As the Dean of Discipline at the High School, you must administer a ruling on this issue. School policy indicates the following: "... in the event of a physical altercation on school grounds, during normal school hours, the individual student identified as the aggressor will be subject to suspension..." as such the policy will only permit one of the two boys to be suspended. Which one are you suspending and why?

Be certain to fully explain your position and how your decision serves the interest of justice? Do you believe it is more important to follow the letter of a policy or regulation (textualism) versus the spirit of the regulation the policy was designed to protect (pragmatism)?