The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Pennsylvania cheerleader Brandi Levy in a case that addressed public schools’ ability to penalize students for off-campus speech. The 8-1 ruling held that the school’s interest in regulating student speech did not extend to Levy’s free expression, and further that public schools must have a “heavy burden to justify intervention.”
Levy, who as a freshman in 2017 did not make the varsity cheer team, posted a profanity-laced rant on Snapchat, saying, “F-ck school f-ck softball f-ck cheer f-ck everything.” When a screenshot of the post made its way to school officials, Levy was suspended from the junior varsity cheer squad for a year. After the school refused to re-evaluate its decision, Levy and her parents took the case to a federal district court and won. The school district appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing it needed to regulate off-campus speech to keep students safe from cyberbullying.
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with a former cheerleader who excoriated her school in a profanity-laced post on social media, holding that the punishment of her off-campus speech violated the First Amendment.
But the 8-1 ruling left unresolved the broader question of when schools may regulate off-campus speech, and when such punishment is off limits. It might be tempting to dismiss [the student s] words as unworthy of the robust First Amendment protections discussed herein, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority.. But sometimes it is necessary to protect the superfluous in order to preserve the necessary.
Supreme Court Issues Victory for Free Speech, but Questions Remain
Brandi Levy posted Snapchat images with vulgar language and gestures after she did not make her high school’s varsity cheerleading squad. After school officials suspended Levy from the junior varsity squad for the upcoming year, she sued. The Supreme Court agreed that the school officials violated her First Amendment rights. (Photo: Chukrut Budrul/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Commentary By
Sarah Parshall Perry is a legal fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
The Supreme Court issued a win Wednesday for Brandi Levy, a former Mahanoy Area School District student known to court watchers as the “cussing cheerleader.” But the court’s decision made it unclear what other types of student speech a public school can censor.
By MARK SHERMAN | Associated Press Jun 23, 2021
22 hrs ago
WASHINGTON (AP) â In the case of the cursing cheerleader, the Supreme Court notched a victory for the free speech rights of students Wednesday, siding with a high school student whose vulgar social media post got her kicked off the junior varsity squad.
The court voted 8-1 in favor of Brandi Levy, who was a 14-year-old freshman when she expressed her disappointment over not making the varsity cheerleading team with a string of curse words and a raised middle finger on Snapchat.
Levy, of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, was not at school when she made her post, but she was suspended from cheerleading activities for a year anyway. In an opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer, the high court ruled that the suspension violated Levy s First Amendment freedom of speech rights. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, noting he would have upheld the suspension.
US Supreme Court sides with cheerleader over social media post First Amendment did not allow public schools to punish students for speech outside school grounds
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a Pennsylvania school district had violated the First Amendment by punishing a student for a vulgar social-media message sent away from school grounds.
The vote was 8 to 1, with Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting.
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The case concerned Brandi Levy, a Pennsylvania high school student who had expressed her dismay over not making the varsity cheerleading squad by sending a colourful Snapchat message to about 250 people.
She sent the message on a Saturday from the Cocoa Hut, a convenience store popular with teenagers. It included an image of Levy and a friend with their middle fingers raised, along with a string of words expressing the same sentiment. Using a swear word four