Abstract
Under the Supreme Court’s holding in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, public schools may only restrict student speech where the speech is reasonably forecasted to cause a “substantial and material disruption.” With online forums calling into question who may control speech and forecast its impact, the circuit courts have granted public schools broad authority to monitor, and punish, their students for online activity that occurs off-campus. The Supreme Court recently declined the opportunity to reverse this disturbing trend by denying certiorari for Bell v. Itawamba County. As a result, questions remain unanswered regarding students’ right to free speech and how courts should address First Amendment cases in the digital realm.
Citation
Aleaha Jones, Schools, Speech, and Smartphones: Online Speech and the Evolution of the Tinker Standard, 15 Duke Law & Technology Review 155-170 (2017)
Included in
Communications Law Commons, Education Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, Internet Law Commons
Available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dltr/vol15/iss1/8