WASHINGTON – In oral arguments heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in a Pennsylvania free speech case, The Justices in questioning attorneys seemed to hold a viewpoint expressing reluctance to give schools wide latitude to punish students for things they say or post on social media when they’re off campus.
The case, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. centers around single social media post in the form of a profanity filled rant on SnapChat by a teenager who was not advanced to a varsity cheerleading spot on her small, rural public high school in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
On Snapchat, she posted a photo of herself and a friend at a convenience store with their middle fingers raised. She repeatedly used a vulgar four-letter