Going to the Supreme Court

A comment on Snapchat by Brandi Levy, a high school cheerleader, is being considered by the U. S. Supreme Court. After failing to make the varsity cheerleading squad, she was very disappointed. So, while at a local convenience store, she snapped a picture of herself shooting the bird with the caption: “Fuck school fuck softball fuck cheer fuck everything.” She sent the photo to her 250 friends on Snapchat. When the daughter of the cheerleading coach saw it, she showed it to her mother. The coach, grievously offended, told Levy that she would be suspended from the team for the rest of the year. This teed her off so much that she filed a federal lawsuit alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights.

Her case went through the system and eventually made the Court, which will decide whether public schools can actually abridge their students’ free expression beyond the schoolhouse gate. It appears as though they are leaning towards the view that Ms. Levy should win.