S.J.W. v. Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, No. 12-1727 (8th Cir. October 17, 2012)
Plaintiffs (twin brothers) created a blog that contained offensive, racist and sexually explicit content targeting their high school classmates by name. The school district suspended the brothers for 180 days. Plaintiffs got a preliminary injunction against the suspension, and the school district sought review with the Eighth Circuit. On appeal, the court reversed, and ordered that the suspension should not have been halted by the injunction.
The court held that under the Tinker analysis (Tinker is the leading case from the Supreme Court dealing with student free speech), the blog posts could reasonably have been expected to reach the school or impact the environment. Paired with the considerable disturbance and disruption at school because of the content, the court found that the lower court improperly held that the plaintiffs would have a successful First Amendment argument.
Moreover, the appellate court held that the plaintiffs had not shown irreparable harm from their suspension. They were able to enroll at another local accredited school, and the harm to their future music careers from not being able to try out for band was merely speculative.
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