WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – In a ruling Wednesday that observers say brings the Supreme Court “into the internet age,” the justices ruled that students have the First Amendment right, in many instances, to say and post online without worrying about punishment from school officials.
In an 8-to-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the nation’s 50 million or more public school students can’t be punished for what they say or post online while off campus.
The case centered around Brandi Levy, who was a ninth-grade junior varsity cheerleader at a Pennsylvania high school when she posted a profanity-laced message on Snapchat after learning she didn’t make the varsity squad.
After a coach was alerted to the post, Levy was suspended from the JV team for her entire sophomore year.
She and her parents sued and a federal appeals court ruled since her message was posted off campus, it was outside the authority of school officials.
MSNBC Supreme Court analyst & co-founder of SCOTUSblog Tom Goldstein explained, “So, the justices here just set out some general goalposts on which they could go ahead and agree and then said, ‘Look, this student was just talking off campus about the cheerleading squad without threatening anyone on her own time, talking to her own social circle, that’s not close enough to the interest of the school to permit her to be punished.’”
The ruling doesn’t protect all off-campus expression. Disruptive, harmful, or bullying speech can still be punished by schools, but the justices did seem to broaden First Amendment protections with students now spending extended time communicating through social media and text messages.
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