(The Daily Citizen) First Amendment free speech cases that reach the U.S. Supreme Court are never about inoffensive words, it seems. While individuals, businesses or organizations may try to shut down speech that offends them, the legal situation changes drastically when the government attempts to do so, and we should appreciate it when the courts step in and remind us what the First Amendment is designed for.
This week the Supreme Court decided an important free speech case involving a public high school cheerleader in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. The facts in this case – like other free speech cases involving students – don’t paint the cheerleader in a sympathetic light. B. L., as the court’s opinion designates her because she is a minor, tried out for a varsity cheerleading position as well as a spot on her school’s softball team. When she only made the junior varsity squad and was also equally disappointed in her lack of success in her softball tryout, she vented on social media.