Supreme Court Rules for High School Cheerleader in Free-Speech Case Over Snapchat Post

The Supreme Court extended its protection of student speech to social media on Wednesday, by an 8-1 ruling that a Pennsylvania school district overstepped its authority by punishing a high-school cheerleader who used a vulgar word on Snapchat when she didn’t make the varsity cheerleading team.

The case stems from a May 2017 Snapchat post that Brandi Levy, then a high-school sophomore in Mahanoy City, Pa., sent to some 250 followers after failing to make the varsity cheerleading squad.

“F— school f— softball f— cheer f— everything,” the 14-year-old, frustrated at the prospect of another year on the junior varsity team, wrote on her cellphone, posting a photo of herself and a friend extending middle fingers. The Snap automatically disappeared in 24 hours, but a screenshot of the message made its way to a cheerleading coach. The school then suspended Ms. Levy from the junior varsity team for the school year, saying she had violated various rules including prohibitions of foul language, unsportsmanlike conduct and disrespect of the school.

After the school refused to reconsider the punishment, Ms. Levy and her parents went to court. Federal district and appeals courts agreed that the school violated her free-speech rights, but differed in their reasoning.

The federal district judge said Ms. Levy’s exclamation simply couldn’t be considered disruptive of school, the standard the Supreme Court set for punishing student speech in a landmark case from 1969, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District.

A three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia, affirmed Ms. Levy’s victory unanimously. Two judges held that the school had no authority to discipline students for off-campus speech; a third agreed with the district court, finding that regardless of whether the school could in some instances police off-campus speech, Ms. Levy’s Snap couldn’t be considered disruptive.