Court Finds No First Amendment Violation in School's Restrictions on School Club Flyers
A high school student established a pro-life student club at her high school, which school administrators approved. She was allowed to have a table at the school's activities fair, where she displayed pro-life signs and recruited more than 30 members. However, when the student tried to post flyers with political slogans on school walls, she was told she had to revise them to comply with the school's neutral content rules for all student-club wall postings. She and her mother challenged the administrator's decision on the wall postings, and ultimately the club was suspended for the remainder of the semester but reinstated a couple of months later.
The student sued the school district claiming that the school's rejection of her flyers and suspension of the club violated her First Amendment rights. The district court disagreed, ruling in favor of the school district. That decision was appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. E.D. v. Noblesville School District.
The school defended its decision to reject the pro-life club's flyers because of their political content, arguing that it restricted all student club flyers to the club's name and the meeting time, date, and location. The school stated that the pro-life club's flyer included language such as "Defund Planned Parenthood" that went beyond what school club flyers were allowed to include. The school noted that once the students meet, they are free to talk about their common interests but that the flyers cannot contain content that is "political or that could disrupt the school environment." The school also defended its decision to suspend the club because the student's mother became involved in school club matters which were supposed to be student-led when she attempted to end run the process by lobbying another administrator to allow the flyers.
The Seventh Circuit upheld the school's actions, finding that the flyers (and political content) could be perceived as having been endorsed by the school because they are posted on school walls. The court rejected the student's argument that this was a case about private student speech, instead finding it to be a case about whether the school must lend its resources (the school walls) to disseminate student speech. The court determined that it did not have to do so, noting that although the school walls were a limited public forum for student expression, the school can restrict the content in this manner to "create a stable, neutral educational environment." The court acknowledged that the school's flyer policy regulated content, but noted that it did not discriminate based on viewpoint since the school banned all political content from all school club flyers. As a result, the court found no constitutional violation in the school's actions regarding the club's flyers. The court also upheld the school's suspension of the school club, finding that it was not based on the club's viewpoint or message but instead because of the parent's involvement in the club that was inconsistent with the policy that school clubs be student-led.
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