As I blogged a few months ago, a two-judge majority on a Sixth Circuit panel held in Defoe v. Spiva that there was such an exception; to quote the panel, A public high school that can put reasonable limits on drug-related speech by students [referring to Morse v. Frederick, which upheld such restrictions –EV] can […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech at K-12 Schools
Seventh Circuit Reaffirms High School Students’ Rights to Wear “Be Happy, Not Gay” T-Shirts
The opinion is Zamecnik v. Indian Prairie School Dist. #204 (decided today) (Posner, J.), and it reaffirms the panel’s decision in an earlier phase of the case. On balance the opinion seems slightly more speech protective than the earlier one, because it doesn’t rely on Morse v. Frederick (as the earlier opinion did in some […]
ACLU of Virginia Defends Students Who Want to Post Ten Commandments on Their Lockers
By Eugene Volokh on February 26, 2011 10:17 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at K-12 Schools, Religion and the Law
Here’s the Virginia ACLU’s letter to the principal, as posted by WSLS-TV: We were concerned to hear that the administration of Floyd County High School had removed copies of the Ten Commandments from students’ lockers. If the school is treating students’ religious speech less favorably than other forms of speech, it may violate the First […]
First Amendment Exception for “Racially Hostile or Contemptuous Speech” — Including Display of the Confederate Flag — in K-12 Public Schools?
So a two-judge majority on a Sixth Circuit panel held in Defoe v. Spiva held, arguing that: A public high school that can put reasonable limits on drug-related speech by students [referring to Morse v. Frederick, which upheld such restrictions -EV] can put reasonable and even-handed limits on racially hostile or contemptuous speech, without having […]
Public School Changes Stance, Allows 13-Year-Old to Display American Flag on His Bicycle
By Eugene Volokh on November 15, 2010 6:15 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at K-12 Schools
I blogged about the incident last week, when the school ordered the boy to remove the flag. Here’s the latest, from a letter posted on the Denair Unified School District site: As most of you are aware, we’ve had a school issue that has risen to the level of national news coverage. This incident occurred […]
Public School Orders Student to Take American Flag off His Bike
By Eugene Volokh on November 12, 2010 1:28 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at K-12 Schools
[UPDATE: The school has now reversed its stance.] KSBW (Monterey, California) reports: Thirteen-year-old Cody Alicea put the [American] flag [on his bike] as a show of support for the veterans in his family. But officials at Denair Middle School told him he couldn’t fly it. He said he was told some students had complained…. [T]he […]