Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the U.S. Virgin Islands) decided two cases in which public school districts disciplined students for creating fake MySpace profiles of their principals. For reasons that I do not understand, Pennsylvania is a leading state in this area of the law. Those of us who track these issues nationally look to the Keystone State as a leading indicator.
The decisions were decided by co-equal panels of different judges in the same court. On the surface, they are dramatically different. In one case, it was acceptable for the school district to impose discipline. In the other case, under nearly identical facts, disciplining the student ran afoul of the First Amendment.
For a detailed, two-part analysis of how the court reached different results in each of these cases – and why the decisions are important – please go to http://bit.ly/9cdVnx for part one and http://bit.ly/bhZKcW for part two. I hope you will take advantage of this blog to discuss these evolving issues.
Related posts:
