Tourists walk in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington, March 24, 2013. In their first-ever review of same-sex marriage laws, the nine justices on the country s highest court are hearing arguments on Tuesday and Wednesday on one of the most politically charged dilemmas of the day, bound with themes of religion, sexuality and social custom. | (Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a free speech case involving a Pennsylvania high school student who was kicked off her cheerleading team over a profanity-laced Snapchat message, a case advocates say has free speech implications for all students.
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Facing its biggest student speech case in a half century, the Supreme Court seemed to be looking for a narrow exit door on Wednesday.
At issue was whether schools may punish students for speech that occurs online and off campus but may affect school order.
The case has been billed as the most important student speech case since 1969. That landmark ruling came at the height of the Vietnam War. Mary Beth Tinker and four other students went to court after they were suspended for wearing black armbands to school to protest the war.
By a vote of 7-to-2 the high court ruled at the time for the first time that kids do have First Amendment free speech rights at school, unless school officials reasonably forecast it will cause disruptions.
Justices seem wary of making broader statements on student free speech Cheerleaders / YouTube screenshot Kevin Daley • April 28, 2021 5:30 pm
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed to sympathize with a former high school cheerleader who was punished by coaches for using profanity on Snapchat, but remained leery of saying too much about student free speech rights.
A federal appeals court sided with the cheerleader and said schools cannot punish students for speech that happens off campus. The Court would not go that during Wednesday s two-hour arguments, as many of the justices worried about striking the right balance between free speech and a school s need to stop harassment, bullying, and general disruptions.
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The Supreme Court struggled Wednesday to decide when a student’s right to free speech should shield her from being disciplined by teachers for online postings that may include vulgar, demeaning or racist comments about her school.
The justices said they were in search of a clear rule but had not settled on one.
Lawyers for a Pennsylvania school district and the Justice Department urged the justices to update the law for the era of social media and rule that a school’s authority to punish students is not limited to what happens on school grounds.
“The location from where the post is sent is more or less irrelevant,” said Malcolm Stewart, a deputy U.S. solicitor general. Because of the internet, “off-campus speech now can affect the operation of the school.”
Supreme Court grapples with students First Amendment rights in case involving high school cheerleader Share Updated: 11:51 AM PDT Apr 29, 2021 By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Supreme Court grapples with students First Amendment rights in case involving high school cheerleader Share Updated: 11:51 AM PDT Apr 29, 2021
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Show Transcript I mean, now looking at it, I Don t really have like to say like I was a 14 year old kid, I was upset, I was angry. Every 14 year old kid speaks like that. At one point she had a friend on a Saturday, went to a convenience store and posted a snap Snapchat picture. And several days later she was told by her cheerleading coach that she s been kicked off the team because of her post. So as the law has evolved over the last 50 years, the line that the Supreme Court has drawn is not at the sort of physical boundary of the school, but it s essentially where the school has um supervisory