In a case arising from the Western District of Pennsylvania, a panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a parody of Hickory High School student’s principal was protected free speech.
But in one case out of the East district, another group of three judges of the Court of Appeal ruled otherwise.
If Hickory, Justin Layshock created a MySpace profile of then-Hickory High School Principal Eric Trosch in December 2005. Mr. Layshock filed a lawsuit against the First Amendment Hermitage School District, claiming the administration had nothing to say about the parody online and could not legally punish him for it.
The other case concerns a college student who wrote a profile similar to its main subject, but the court ruled differently.
“I think the big problem is school officials Layshock hoped would clarify the rules in this area, but with these two conflicting decisions, I feel as though there was less information than ever,” said Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Layshock, now senior at St. John’s, New York, created the profile with his grandmother, outside school hours.
When Mr. Trosch scientists who created it has suspended Mr. Layshock for 10 days. High School graduate was banned from attending all extracurricular activities, forced to attend alternative education and had to blow up his high school diploma.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents students in both cases, argued the lawsuit filed by Mr. Layshock original that the surveillance powers of the school does not reach to the house of her grandmother .
In this appeal, the district administration has argued that the profile significantly disrupted the operation of the school.
In a July 2007 decision, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence F. McVerry disagreed, saying: “Public schools are vital institutions, but their scope is not unlimited.”
The Appeal Board, in a 54-page opinion, okay.
However, this decision seems inconsistent with the other, also released Thursday by the 3rd Circuit.
In this decision, written by Circuit Judge of the United States D. Michael Fisher, a 2-1 panel found that a profile created by a 14 year old student at Middle School Central Pennsylvania to his home was not protected speech.
This profile posted by a student of eighth in the District Blue Mountain School, was filled with vulgarity and refers to the direction of the school being a pedophile.
“Because we believe that school authorities could reasonably have expected a significant disruption of or material interference with school because of the MySpace profile … we conclude that the school district did not violate [the daughter] First, the rights of freedom of expression Amendment by subject her to create the profile, “the court wrote.
Judge Fisher has tried to differentiate between the case Layshock and saying in a note that, in his second appeal, the Hermitage School District abandoned the argument that the profile of Mr. Layshock may have disrupted school
Mr. Walczak said he was considering asking the full 3rd Circuit to hear the Blue Mountain