@#$@#$! The United States Supreme Court comes to the predictable, and correct, decision in Mahanoy Area School District, v. B. L., a Minor

I'm a bit surprised by the amount of attention that this decision has engendered, but the times seem like that.

Mahanoy Area School District, v. B. L., a Minor

I've mentioned this here before, but B. L. a vocal minor, posted a "vulgar" Snapchat when she was miffed over her school's cheerleading team, in spite of her status as a cheerleader.  She didn't make the varsity squad, and replied with some vulgarities about that. She made it the following year.  

In response to such rude behavior, she was suspended from her less august cheerleading position for a year.  

Her overprotective parents sued.

This was an out of school declaration and she suffered a government sanction for it, no matter how minor.  Pretty clear this was a violation of her right to free speech and pretty clear the school was doing what it had to do, in the context of its duties.

So, the result?  M'eh.

The surprising thing, to my view, is that there was a dissent.  Relying on a more traditional reading of the law, and perhaps on more traditional times, Justice Thomas thought the doctrine of in loco parentis applies and she got a constitutionally sanctioned dope slap.

So what can we take from this.

Well, your out of school free speech rights are pretty broad, which we already knew.

They really should be broad.

And modern technology has allowed the spontaneous rude behaviors of juveniles, both the juvenile in age and in mental outlook, to spread far more than it used to, or should.

And some parents are willing to sue over nothing. Cheerleading?  Seriously?

Oh well.  

I'm sure, of course, that this will receive a lot of press of a varied nature. Some will hail this example of parental protective largess as a great civil rights victory, which it really isn't. On MSNBC it's probably being wildly celebrated as if BL is Malcolm X and a new dawn of libertine progressive culture had taken root in America.  In contrast, Newsmax is probably using it as proof that Blues Clues makes people homosexual. 

Again, m'eh.

Well, I hope she does well in the future, doesn't take her parents excess to much to heart, and that she isn't inspired by all of this to become a lawyer.