Student's Rights Trump Principal's Preferences, Says Lawsuit
by Jim Brown
January 3, 2007
(AgapePress) - - A Pennsylvania high school finds itself the target of a federal lawsuit for limiting the expression of a pro-life student. A sophomore at Penn Cambria High School in Cresson has filed a lawsuit after allegedly being told she could not distribute leaflets opposing abortion. The front side of the leaflets included a picture of a toddler and the phrase: "She's a child, not a choice. Why I am silent." The student also wore red duct tape over her mouth to mark the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity for pre-born abortion victims.
The complaint says Kathy Nagle, Penn Cambria's principal, told the student the leaflets were too controversial and "might start a fight" on campus. Matt Bowman with the Alliance Defense Fund is the student's attorney. He says Nagle's argument does not hold water.
"In many cases, schools think they can discriminate against students based on their viewpoint or because what they're going to have to say is controversial," the attorney shares; "and the First Amendment doesn't permit that."
ADF has intervened in several similar cases involving violations of students' rights surrounding the Day of Silent Solidarity, an event sponsored by Stand True Ministries, a pro-life youth organization. In one case, officials with a Maryland high school had banned what they deemed "inflammatory" student flyers about the event, but later dropped the ban when ADF advised the school of the students' free-speech rights.
According to Bowman, this case is no different. He says the Constitution -- specifically the First and Fourteenth amendments -- as well as legal precedent are on his client's side.
"The federal courts, especially [those] governing Pennsylvania, have issued strong opinions saying that you have to have particular, concrete, specific reasons to expect the particular message is going to cause a disruption," the ADF attorney explains. It takes more, he says, than a principal telling students they cannot say something simply because the principal does not like what is being said or speculates that a fight might start.
ADF says a 1969 Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines, affirmed that students do not shed their constitutional right to free speech or expression when they come onto a school campus. But Bowman alleges that by discriminating against his client on the basis of her pro-life viewpoint, Penn Cambria High School violated her rights to free speech, due process, and equal protection.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
