Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Cheerleader Punished for Sending Vulgar Snapchat Message
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
The United States Supreme Court sided with a Pennsylvania cheerleader who had been punished for sharing a vulgar message on Snapchat.
Justices ruled the school violated the student’s First Amendment rights when it disciplined her for her out-of-school comments.
The high court ruled 8-1 in favor of the cheerleader Brandi Levy, with Justice Stephen Breyer writing the majority opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe case centered around a message Levy had posted to Snapchat on a Saturday in 2017 after learning she didn't make her school's varsity cheerleading team.
Levy, who was a freshman in the Mahanoy Area School District, shared with her 250 followers a self-deleting Snapchat of her and a friend raising their middle fingers, captioned with "f**k school f**k softball f**k cheer f**k everything."
One of Levy's followers, a fellow cheerleader, took a screenshot of her photo (before it was automatically deleted) and accompanying caption and showed it to a cheerleading coach.
The coaches decided Levy violated team and school rules governing student conduct, and she was suspended from the cheerleading squad for her sophomore year.
After Levy's parents unsuccessfully appealed to school and district officials to reconsider the punishment, they filed a federal lawsuit arguing the discipline for her off-campus speech violated their daughter's free speech rights.
A federal district court in Pennsylvania had sided with Levy and her parents, and ordered her reinstated on the team. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and ruled the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines doesn't apply to off-campus speech.
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