Judge Rules Student’s Facebook Rants About Teacher Are Protected Speech (FL)

(NOTE:  This case is consistent with a fairly well-established line of cases that found a First Amendment violation when a school attempts to discipline off-campus speech and there is no “substantial disruption” of the educational environment.  The big question:  Is this still good law when the online speech is student-on-student harassment that affects the educational experience of the target?   The recent JC v Beverly Hills SD case said yes.  That will not be the final word.   – Mike)

Hannah Sampson
The Associated Press
February 17, 2010

A student who set up a Facebook page to complain about her teacher — and was later suspended — had every right to do so under the First Amendment, a federal magistrate has ruled.

The ruling not only allows Katherine “Katie” Evans’ suit against the principal to move forward, it could set a precedent in cases involving speech and social networking on the Internet, experts say.

The courts are in the early stages of exploring the limits of free speech within social networking, said Howard Simon, the executive director of the Florida ACLU, which filed the suit on Evans’ behalf.

“It’s one of the main things that we wanted to establish in this case, that the First Amendment has a life in the social networking technology as it applies to the Internet and other forms of communication,” Simon said.

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