The United States Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a student who alleged that school authorities had violated her First Amendment Free Speech rights for off-campus conduct that was manifested in social media postings.

In Mahonoy Area School District v. B.L., an 8-1 Supreme Court disagreed with the school district, which had disciplined the student for her social media postings by suspending her from the junior varsity cheerleading squad. Justice Alito’s concurring opinion saw the dispute this way in joining the other seven justices: “The overwhelming majority of school administrators, teachers, and coaches are men and women who are deeply dedicated to the best interests of their students, but it is predictable that there will be occasions when some will get carried away, as did the school officials in the case at hand. If today’s decision teaches any lesson, it must be that the regulation of many types of off-premises student speech raises serious First Amendment concerns, and school officials should proceed cautiously before venturing into this territory.”

Only Justice Thomas dissented, parting ways over what he saw as the majority’s failure to properly grapple with doctrinal considerations in student speech scenarios.

Click here to read the opinions issued in this interesting case: 20-255 Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L. (06/23/2021) (supremecourt.gov). PDF tools if needed.