Appeals court rules MySpace parodies protected by First Amendment

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals today held that two Pennsylvania students who created MySpace profiles making fun of their school principals were protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, and could not be punished by their school districts.

The separate opinions were both released today.

In each case, the students had created the fake online profiles outside of school, one on her parents' computer and the other on his grandmother's computer.

"The one clear rule that emerges from today's opinions is that school officials' authority to punish kids for saying offensive and critical things off campus is limited," said Witold Walczak, who argued both of the cases and is legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

Lawyers for the school districts involved could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the first case, high school senior Justin Layshock sued Mercer County's Hermitage School District after he was suspended for 10 days in 2006 for creating what he called a "parody profile" of his school principal. The MySpace page largely consisted of jokes about the principal's size and weight.

The Third Circuit Court ruled unanimously today the suspension violated Mr. Layshock's right to freedom of speech, finding that self-expression "that originated outside of the schoolhouse, did not disturb the school environment and was not related to any school-sponsored event" could not be punished.

In the second case, an unidentified eighth-grader sued Schuykill County's Blue Mountain School District after she was suspended for ten days in 2007 for creating a fake profile of her school principal. Her profile did not list the principal's name, but posted his official school district picture under the MySpace URL "kidsrockmybed" and referred to him in a derisive manner.

The profile's elements ranged "from nonsense and juvenile humor to profanity and shameful personal attacks," Third Circuit Judge Michael Chagares wrote in today's majority opinion.

The Third Circuit split on the girl's case, ruling 8-6 that the suspension violated her right to freedom of speech.

"There is no dispute that J.S.'s speech did not cause a substantial disruption in the school," Judge Chagares wrote. Nor could the MySpace profile have led school officials to reasonably expect a disruption, "despite the unfortunate humiliation it caused," the judge wrote.

"The profile was so outrageous that no one could have taken it seriously, and no one did," he said.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge D. Michael Fisher wrote that the majority opinion could seriously undermine a school district's authority to regulate students who disrupt school with off-campus speech.

Judge Fisher found that the majority opinion underestimated the "harmful effects" of the girl's speech, as well as "the serious nature of allegations of sexual misconduct" that her profile leveled at the principal.

"This kind of harassment has tangible effects on educators," Judge Fisher wrote.



First published on June 13, 2011 at 6:31 pm