Justices Show Little Spirit for Expanding Tinker: SCOTUS Wrestles with Appropriate Standard for …

In 1969, the Supreme Court recognized both that students do not surrender their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gates, but that schools do have the right to discipline students for speech that could cause substantial disruptions. In the landmark case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court held that public school officials can regulate their students’ speech if those expressions of opinion would “materially and substantially interfere” with school operations. This standard, known as the Tinker test, has been the lodestar by which courts have weighed students’ First Amendment rights versus schools’ rights to curtail problematic speech ever since. But a case involving Snapchat, cheerleading, and a disgruntled student has the potential to extend Tinker’s holding far beyond the schoolhouse gates and into the realm of social media. On Wednesday, April 28, 2021, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., a case that many thought could have potentially monumental effects on the regulation of off-campus speech as relates to schools and social media. The case centers on Brandi Levy—the titular B.L.— who, while a student at a public high school in Pennsylvania, tried out for her school’s varsity…
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