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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L.
Citation:
594 U.S. 180 (2021)Facts
B.L. was a freshman at Mahanoy Area High School who tried out for the varsity cheerleading squad but was placed on the junior varsity team instead. Frustrated by this decision, she visited a local convenience store over the weekend and posted two images on Snapchat. The first showed B.L. and a friend with middle fingers raised and included the caption “Fuck school fuck softball fuck cheer fuck everything.” The second image contained text criticizing how she and another student were treated regarding varsity team placement. B.L.’s posts were visible to about 250 Snapchat “friends,” including other cheerleaders. Another student took screenshots of the posts and showed them to the cheerleading coaches. The coaches determined that B.L.’s posts violated team and school rules by using profanity in connection with a school activity. As punishment, they suspended B.L. from the junior varsity cheerleading team for the upcoming year. After unsuccessful attempts to reverse the punishment through school channels, B.L. and her parents filed suit in federal court.
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