Recent Cases

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• Page v. Lexington County Sch. Dist. One, No. 07-1697 (4th Cir. Jun. 23, 2008) [HTML 7,458kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (MD, NC, SC, VA, WV) has ruled that a South Carolina school district did not engage in impermissible viewpoint discrimination under First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause when it refused to use its own information systems to point to information supporting private school choice.
  
• Doninger v. Niehoff, No. 07-3885 (2d Cir. May 29, 2008) [HTML 6,096kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (CT, NY, VT) has ruled that a Connecticut school district that disciplined a student for vulgar and derogatory remarks made off-campus did not violate her free speech or equal protection rights.
  
• Price v. New York City Bd. of Educ., 2008 NY Slip Op. 03512 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., App. Div. Apr. 22, 2008) [HTML 3,630kb]
  The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, has ruled that a lawsuit brought by parents challenging the New York City school district’s rule banning students from possessing cell phones in school presented a “nonjusticiable” issue for the court.
  
• Laney v. Farley, No. 06-6000 (6th Cir. Aug. 28, 2007) [HTML 3,877kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (KY, MI, OH, TN) has ruled that school officials did not violate a student’s due process rights by giving her a one-day, in-school suspension, without notice and an opportunity to be heard, for violating the Tennessee school district’s policy banning cell phones in school.
  
• Lindeman v. Kelso Sch. Dist. No. 458, No. 77253-3 (Nov. 15, 2007) [HTML 4,629kb]
  The Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that a videotape from a school bus surveillance camera is subject to public disclosure under state law because it does not fall within the student file exemption.
  
• Page v. Lexington County Sch. Dist. One, 2007 WL 2123784 (slip copy D. S.C. July 20, 2007) [HTML 4,727kb]
  A U.S. district court in South Carolina has ruled that a school district did not violate a private school voucher advocate’s free speech rights by declining to link to his information on the district’s website or disseminate it in PTA newsletters.
  
• Layshock v. Hermitage Sch. Dist., No. 06-116 (July 10, 2007) [HTML 5,331kb]
  A federal district court in Pennsylvania has ruled that school officials violated a high school student’s free speech rights when they disciplined him for his off-campus parody MySpace profile of the school’s principal.
  
• Wisniewski v. Bd. of Educ. of Weedsport Cent. Sch. Dist., No. 06-3394-cv (2d Cir. July 5, 2007) [HTML 3,944kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (CT, NY, VT) has upheld the suspension of a student who created an instant messaging (IM) icon depicting his teacher being shot.
  
• Price v. New York City Bd. of Educ., 109703/06 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. May 7, 2007) [HTML 4,146kb]
  A state trial court in New York has upheld the New York City Department of Education’s policy prohibiting students from bringing cell phones to school without permission.
  
• Layshock v. Hermitage School District, 412 F.Supp.2d 502, 2006 WL 240655 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 31, 2006) [HTML 3,278kb]
  A Pennsylvania federal district court has denied a high school student's motion for a preliminary injunction that would have barred school officials from disciplining him for creating an online parody profile of the school's principal on an off-campus computer.
  
• Ashcroft v. ACLU, No. 03-218 (U.S. June 29, 2004) [HTML 2,724kb]
  The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a federal district court’s preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) until trial is completed is valid because COPA “likely violates the First Amendment.”
  
• United States v. American Library Association, No. 02-361 (U.S. Sup. Ct. June 23, 2003) [HTML 4,982kb]
  The Supreme Court ruled that Children's Internet Protection Act is constitutional as applied to public libraries.
  
• ACLU v. Ashcroft, No. 99-1324 (3rd Cir. March 6, 2003) [HTML 2,055kb]
  In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Third Circuit’s ruling in ACLU v. Ashcroft that the Child Online Protection Act’s (COPA) use of "contemporary community standards" to identify material harmful to minors violates the First Amendment.