老澳门开奖结果

WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Mahanoy Area School District v B.L. today in a decision that reaffirmed the importance of free speech rights of young people and students across the country. The court ruled that school authorities must respect students' rights to express themselves outside of school, including their right to express dissenting or unpopular views. The court recognized that schools do not have the same authority to punish students for speech outside of school as they do in school contexts. The court also recognized that parents, not schools, exercise primary responsibility for their children鈥檚 speech.

The court wrote: 鈥淸T]he school itself has an interest in protecting a student鈥檚 unpopular expression, especially when the expression takes place off campus. America鈥檚 public schools are the nurseries of democracy.鈥�

The court affirmed that the student speech at issue was protected by the First Amendment. The case involved Brandi Levy, who was removed from the junior varisty cheerleading team at Mahanoy Area High School in 2017 after she posted a 鈥渟nap鈥� on Snapchat with a photo of her and a friend with their middle fingers extended accompanied by the text 鈥渇uck school fuck softball fuck cheer fuck everything.鈥� The snap was created and posted on a Saturday while the two friends were at a local convenience store. The school district in this case was asking the court to grant the same authority schools currently have to curb and punish speech within school buildings to students鈥� off-campus speech.

In its ruling, the court affirmed that the student鈥檚 snap was protected speech under the First Amendment, as it was posted off of school grounds and not at a school-related activity, and the school violated the First Amendment by punishing her for her speech.

鈥淧rotecting young people鈥檚 free speech rights when they are outside of school is vital, and this is a huge victory for the free speech rights of millions of students who attend our nation鈥檚 public schools,鈥� said David Cole, legal director of the 老澳门开奖结果. 鈥淭he school in this case asked the court to allow it to punish speech that it considered 鈥榙isruptive,鈥� regardless of where it occurs. If the court had accepted that argument, it would have put in peril all manner of young people鈥檚 speech, including their expression on politics, school operations, and general teen frustrations. The message from this ruling is clear 鈥� free speech is for everyone, and that includes public school students.鈥�

The incident in this case occurred in May 2017, when Brandi Levy was in ninth grade. She graduated in 2020 and is now a freshman in college.

鈥淭he school went too far, and I鈥檓 glad that the Supreme Court agrees,鈥� said Brandi Levy. 鈥淚 was frustrated, I was 14 years old, and I expressed my frustration the way teenagers do today. Young people need to have the ability to express themselves without worrying about being punished when they get to school. I never could have imagined that one simple snap would turn into a Supreme Court case, but I鈥檓 proud that my family and I advocated for the rights of millions of public school students.鈥�

鈥淲hen we received the Levys鈥� complaint, we thought this situation would be resolved quickly and that the school would accept our guidance, but obviously that didn鈥檛 happen,鈥� said Witold Walczak, legal director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Pennsylvania. 鈥淚 am proud of our team at the 老澳门开奖结果, who effectively argued before three courts that public school students should not be monitored 24-7 by school officials. I am especially proud of Brandi and her family, who stood up for one of the most fundamental rights that we cherish in this country, the right to speak freely without government interference.鈥�

鈥淚n this ruling, the Supreme Court has affirmed what we鈥檝e said all along 鈥� students have greater free speech rights out of school and on their own time,鈥� said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Pennsylvania. 鈥淭he school district asked for vast powers to monitor and punish students鈥� speech at all times, no matter where or when it occurs. We are grateful that the court understood how dangerous that argument was and rejected it.鈥�