An unusual alliance of US Liberals and Conservatives urged the US Supreme Court to rule in favor of a high-school freshman suspended from the cheerleading squad for a social media post made when the student was not in school, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2021) An unusual alliance of US Liberals and Conservatives urged the US Supreme Court to rule in favor of a high-school freshman suspended from the cheerleading squad for a social media post made when the student was not in school, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Thursday.
"The case asks what free speech rights public school students should have outside school, and the Supreme Court's decision will define the scope of young people's free speech rights 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," the ACLU said in a press release.
Friend of the court briefs were filed by more than 100 organizations, more than 250 individuals, and nine Republican state attorneys urging the Supreme Court to protect young people's First Amendment's rights in what the ACLU called "the most important student free speech case in decades."
A high school freshman in the state of Pennsylvania identified only as B.L. sued her school district after being suspended from the cheerleading squad for a social media post saying: "Fuck school fuck cheer fuck softball fuck everything," according to the ACLU.
The ACLU is representing the student, who posted the message over the weekend when out of school.
The ACLU press release includes a long and unusually diverse list of groups backing the student, including attorneys general from nine Republican-led states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, and Utah .
Among politically liberal groups, supporters included the National Women's Law Center, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Lambda Legal Defense Fund, and more than 30 other civil rights groups.
"You won't find another case in the past decade with such a diverse range of groups on the same side," ACLU National Legal Director David Cole said in the release. "That's because young people's freedom of speech isn't a conservative issue, a liberal issue, a Democratic issue, or a Republican issue. It's an American issue that affects all of us."
The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in the case on April 28.
