{"id":18675,"date":"2021-04-26T08:27:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T12:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=18675"},"modified":"2021-04-26T08:27:20","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T12:27:20","slug":"us-teens-snapchat-rant-reaches-supreme-court-in-free-speech-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/04\/26\/us-teens-snapchat-rant-reaches-supreme-court-in-free-speech-case\/","title":{"rendered":"US teen’s Snapchat rant reaches Supreme Court in free speech case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A teenager’s rant that led to her getting kicked off her cheerleading team has reached the US Supreme Court.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Brandi Levy sent a profanity-laden post to her friends on Snapchat in 2017, venting her frustrations with cheerleading and her school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But when coaches at the Pennsylvania school discovered the post, she was barred from the squad for a year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The case will determine whether schools have the right to punish pupils for what they say off-campus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It is being viewed as a major test of the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects free speech rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Arguments in the case will begin on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What was in the post?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms Levy, then 14, posted the snap – a combination of photo and text that disappears after 24 hours – when she was upset about not being chosen for the varsity cheerleading team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She posted it on a Saturday while at the Cocoa Hut, a 24-hour convenience store in Mahanoy City. The shop is not part of the school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It showed her with her middle finger raised, and her caption contained a four-letter swear word directed at cheerleading, softball, school, and “everything” generally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The post was screenshotted by a friend and shown to another pupil, who was the daughter of one of the cheerleading coaches at Mahanoy Area High School.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The coaches then suspended Ms Levy from the team for a year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She then sued the Mahanoy Area School District, arguing that the decision breached her First Amendment right to free speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What is Ms Levy’s argument?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms Levy, now 18, says the photo was posted from an off-campus location on a non-school day – meaning the school did not have the authority to discipline her for it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pupils’ speech is protected by a landmark Supreme Court case from 1969, Tinker vs Des Moines Independent Community School District, when pupils wore black armbands to protest against the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The court in that case ruled that pupils’ speech was protected as long as it didn’t cause “material and substantial” disruption to the school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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