This blog post was co-written by EFF intern Haley Amster.EFF filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit urging the court to hold that under the First Amendment public schools may not punish students for their off-campus speech, including posting to social media while.
The Supreme Court is wading into a cheerleader's free-speech lawsuit against her high school over booting her off the squad because she posted "f k cheer" on social media.
A girl works on a writing exercise. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
RICHMOND, Va. (CN) A Fourth Circuit panel appeared unlikely Friday to rule in favor of a South Carolina student whose fourth-grade essay offering support for her transgender grandfather was denied publication by her school’s principal.
“The student wrote about the importance of treating everyone with kindness, including LGBTQ persons like her grandfather,” Eric Poston, an attorney for the unnamed student with the Columbia-based law firm Chalmers Poston, wrote in a brief to the appeals court. “For that reason, the principal refused to publish the essay.”
The lawsuit filed in Spartanburg federal court two years ago alleges the student, who was a fourth-grader at the time, submitted the essay as part of an assignment to write a short essay on any topic addressed “to society.” The collection of essays was then to be collected and sent home to parents.
Schuylkill school district won t let it go – Times News Online tnonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tnonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
FIRE
First Amendment News
The case is Price v. Barr (decided Jan. 22), a case about a man who was criminally cited for filming in a federal park.
Facts
Gordon Price is a music store owner and part-time independent filmmaker; he lives and works in Yorktown, VA. Last year, Price and a colleague released an independent feature film about a York County stretch of road that has long been the subject of rumors of hauntings and the location of unsolved murders.
The film is entitled “Crawford Road.” It premiered at the Boathouse Live Restaurant in Newport News, VA. About 250 people attended the premiere, which received press coverage. Later, it was presented at other venues in Hampton and Yorktown, VA. The film also received some local TV news attention.