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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Law - Connecticut Free Speech Suit Filed, Student's Blog Entry At Issue

Recall the April 9th Indiana Court of Appeals decision in A.B. v. State of Indiana (see list of ILB entries here), where the ruling was, quoting from an AP story: "A judge violated a juvenile's free-speech rights when he placed her on probation for posting an expletive-laden entry on MySpace criticizing a school principal, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled."

Check out this lengthy story today from the Hartford Courant that begins:

A Lewis S. Mills High School student who was barred from running for class office after she called administrators a derogatory term on an Internet blog is accusing top school officials of violating her free speech rights.

Avery Doninger, a senior at the school in Burlington this fall, was removed as class secretary in the controversy last May. She is asking a state judge to order the school superintendent and the principal to reinstate her as secretary of the Class of 2008 and allow her to run for re-election in September. * * *

The case highlights the tension between a school's need to maintain discipline and the rights of students to free expression.

It comes in the wake of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month concerning an Alaska student who hung a banner that said "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during a school-related rally. The 5-4 decision put tighter limits on students' free speech. The justices ruled against that teenager because the banner's message could be interpreted as promoting drug use.

In the Lewis Mills student's case, according to Doninger's lawyer, Jon L. Schoenhorn, the student had a right to express her opinion in a public forum outside of school-sponsored activities. He cited a ruling from the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over federal appeals in Connecticut, New York and Vermont, that prevented school administrators from punishing students for expression that took place off school grounds.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 17, 2007 02:54 PM
Posted to General Law Related