Second Circuit Rules in High School Student Blog Case

On Adjunct Law Prof Blog, Mitchell Rubinstein writes "Doninger v. Niehoff, ___F.3d___ (2d Cir. May 29, 2008), is a major student First Amendment free speech case. The facts are simple and straight forward. A disagreement arose concerning the "battle of the bands" concert. A high school student posted what was described as a "vulgar and misleading" message from her home on a publicly accessible web blog where among other things, she referred to the central administration as 'douchebages.' In turn, the school disqualified her from running for Senior Class Secretary and from speaking at graduation. The administration concluded that the student's conduct 'failed to display the civility and good citizenship expected of class officers.'"  Click over to Adjunct Law Prof Blog for Rubinstein's analysis of the ruling. [JH]