Posted on Apr 28, 2021
At Supreme Court, Mean Girls Meet 1st Amendment
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Even Supreme Court advocates can look at a case before the court with their own teenage years in mind. And lawyer Gregory Garre sums up Wednesday's case this way: "Mean girls meet the First Amendment."
More than a half-century ago, the court, in a 7-to-2 vote, ruled that students do have free speech rights at school, unless the speech is disruptive. Now, the justices are being asked to clarify whether, in the internet age, schools can punish students for off-campus speech.
The case was brought by a 14-year-old high school cheerleader, Brandi Levy. A freshman on the junior varsity cheerleading team, Brandi failed to win a spot as a varsity cheerleader for the following year, and she failed to get the position she wanted on the softball team too. So that weekend, frustrated and upset — and off campus — Brandi took a photo of herself and a friend flipping the bird to the camera. She then typed the words at the center of this dispute: "F*** school f*** softball f*** cheer f*** everything."
More than a half-century ago, the court, in a 7-to-2 vote, ruled that students do have free speech rights at school, unless the speech is disruptive. Now, the justices are being asked to clarify whether, in the internet age, schools can punish students for off-campus speech.
The case was brought by a 14-year-old high school cheerleader, Brandi Levy. A freshman on the junior varsity cheerleading team, Brandi failed to win a spot as a varsity cheerleader for the following year, and she failed to get the position she wanted on the softball team too. So that weekend, frustrated and upset — and off campus — Brandi took a photo of herself and a friend flipping the bird to the camera. She then typed the words at the center of this dispute: "F*** school f*** softball f*** cheer f*** everything."
At Supreme Court, Mean Girls Meet 1st Amendment
Posted from npr.org
1st Amendment
Supreme Court
Schools
Social Media
Posted >1 y ago
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It will be an interesting judgement -- seems to me that the school official brought the message into the school, not the alleged disruptor. We'll see...
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So it seems she only got suspended from the team for the rest of the year - not school. It is a grey area because if you let schools punish kids for speech outside of the school campus, how far can they take it?
In this case, her post could have been disruptive to the team and causes friction. I'm not sure as a coach if I would have suspended her the rest of the season but maybe a game or two. Let's be realistic - if social media existed for some of us as teens we would have posted the same stuff if we didn't make a spot on a team or something like that. She was frustrated - got it. But she was only a freshman so not sure why she expected to make varsity. She tried again the next year and made it.
It is a tough issue to decide on though.
In this case, her post could have been disruptive to the team and causes friction. I'm not sure as a coach if I would have suspended her the rest of the season but maybe a game or two. Let's be realistic - if social media existed for some of us as teens we would have posted the same stuff if we didn't make a spot on a team or something like that. She was frustrated - got it. But she was only a freshman so not sure why she expected to make varsity. She tried again the next year and made it.
It is a tough issue to decide on though.
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Oh I think I would have been in a lot of trouble if social media existed when I was a teen. Then again it did exist if your phone was a party line.
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