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Can Public Schools Constitutionally Punish Students? Off-Campus Speech? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Will Decide

By ADF Alliance Alert

Julie Hilden writes at Findlaw: "On June 3rd, an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit re-heard two First Amendment cases that involve speech by public-school students. In each case, the speech occurred off campus, but it still resulted in the school's suspending the student involved. The original panel opinions in the two Pennsylvania-based cases ? Snyder v. Blue Mountain School Dist., and Layshock v. Hermitage School Dist. ? were both issued on February 4th of this year. The positions of the two sides, upon re-hearing, are quite clear. The ACLU, arguing on behalf of the students, contends that speech that occurs outside a public school is also outside the school's jurisdiction: 'While children are in school, they are under the custody and tutelage of the school. Once they leave the schoolhouse gate, you've got parents that come into play.' In contrast, the school districts claim that 'It's not a matter of where you throw the grenade, it's where the grenade lands.' In other words, the districts argue that when students' speech targets the school, it doesn't matter whether the speech itself occurs on-campus or off-campus. In this column, I'll contrast the facts and holdings of the two Third Circuit panel decisions that were issued on February 4th, and comment on the First Amendment issues they raise . . . "

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on June 09, 2010 (boomark / email).