Supreme Court Decides Cheerleader's Snapchat Profanity Is Protected Free Speech

The Supreme Court's recent First Amendment decision leaves open questions for school districts regarding their ability to regulate their students' off-campus online speech.

  On June 23, 2021, the Supreme Court decided that Mahanoy Area High School could not discipline a student for her off-campus online speech criticizing her cheerleading squad. This was perhaps the most important student speech case since Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969).

Brandi Levy, a 14-year-old high school student, was upset after not making the varsity cheerleading squad at Mahanoy Area High School. Over the weekend at a gas station, she posted a snap to her snap story, which reached about 250 of her personal Snapchat friends, that said, "F*** school f*** softball f***cheer f***everything."  She also posted a second image which read, "Love how me and [another student] get told we need a year of JV before we make varsity but tha[t] doesn't matter to anyone