« Law - Lawyers' shark sign grandfathered under new sign ordinance | Main | Courts - Kentucky appeals court rejects adoption by lesbian couple »
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Courts - Pennsylvania Federal Judge Upholds Student's Suspension for Fake MySpace Page
Shannon P. Duffy of The Legal Intelligencer reports today in a long story that begins:
An eighth-grade student who was suspended for 10 days after she created a fake page on MySpace.com that depicted her principal as a pedophile and a sex addict has lost her civil rights suit now that a federal judge has ruled that the discipline was proper and didn't violate her free speech rights.For Indiana's MySpace case, A.B. v. State, see this ILB entry from May 14th, and this entry from May 13rd -- fourth case, followed by followed by several additional links."A school can validly restrict speech that is vulgar and lewd and also it can restrict speech that promotes unlawful behavior," U.S. District Judge James M. Munley wrote in his 20-page opinion in J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District. [ILB - access the opinion here]
In the suit, attorneys Mary Catherine Roper of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Mary E. Kohart and Meredith W. Nissen of Drinker Biddle & Reath argued that the suspension was unconstitutional because the speech took place outside of school and because it violated the parental rights of the student's parents to determine how best to raise, nurture, discipline and educate their child.
According to court papers, J.S. and another student, identified as K.L., posted a profile on MySpace in March 2007 that showed a photo of principal James S. McGonigle they had taken from the district's Web site.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 16, 2008 08:37 AM
Posted to Courts in general