美國聯邦上訴法院兩個判決：學校無權懲處學生的校外行為...即使是用電腦網路恥笑校長，只要不是用學校的設備，在學校校園裡所為之事，學校均無權管轄。
Third Circuit rules schools cannot punish students for speech outside school
Maureen Cosgrove at 10:29 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
[official website] ruled in two cases on Monday that schools cannot
punish students for speech or writing created outside the school
environment. In JS v. Blue Mountain School District
[opinion, PDF], a female middle school student created, on her own
computer, a MySpace profile mocking the school principal. The principal
suspended the student for 10 days, and the student initiated a civil
rights suit against the principal and school district. The US District
Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled [opinion, PDF] in favor of the school district, holding that the school's punishing the student did not violate the student's First Amendment [text] right to free speech. The en banc appeals court overruled, holding that, pursuant to Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
[opinion], the school officials failed to demonstrate that the
student's behavior "materially and substantially interfere[d] with the
requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school"
such that punishment of her expression of opinion was justified. Though
the profile contained lewd and vulgar language, it was not created on
the school campus, did not disrupt the school day, nor was disruption
reasonably foreseeable. The appeals court did, however, agree with the
district court's granting of summary judgment against the student with
respect to her parents' Fourteenth Amendment right to raise their
children, and that the school handbook was not unconstitutionally vague.
The dissenters contend that the ruling undermines the school's
discretion to regulate student behavior. The en banc Third Circuit Court of Appeals reached a similar conclusion in Layshock v. Hermitage School District
[opinion, PDF]. Layshock also used a personal computer to create a
profile of his school principal. The appeals court affirmed the decision
[opinion, PDF] of the US District Court for the Western District of
Pennsylvania in favor of the student on the basis that the school
violated his First Amendment right.
The Supreme Court has addressed freedom of speech in schools most recently in Morse v. Frederick [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report]. In June 2007, the Court held [opinion; JURIST report]
that public schools do not violate the First Amendment rights of
students by punishing them for speech during a school-sanctioned
activity that may be reasonably interpreted to promote the use of
illegal substances. A high school student was suspended after he
displayed a banner with the message "Bong hits 4 Jesus" during a
televised parade on a school day. The Court reversed the Ninth Circuit's
decision
[opinion, PDF] and held that the "First Amendment does not require
schools to tolerate at school events student expression that
contributes" to the danger of illegal drug use. The Supreme Court has
not ruled on a case related to student speech created outside of the
classroom.
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