SCOTUS rejected hearing pro-life student speech case

The Supreme Court declined to hear a free speech case brought by a pro-life high school student in Indiana, according to a batch of orders issued Monday. The case centered around a female student, identified as E.D., who founded a chapter of the pro-life student group, Students for Life, at Noblesville High School. High school administrators approved the formation of the high school club, but later blocked the use of some posters that E.D. designed to promote club meetings. The student’s parents and Students for Life filed a lawsuit accusing the school district of First Amendment right violations.

A district court backed the school system, citing the 1988 Supreme Court decision in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, which affirmed that schools may exercise editorial control over student speech in school-sponsored activities. A federal appeals court upheld that ruling last August, prompting the pro-life group to call on SCOTUS to hear the case.

Why did the Supreme decline to hear the case? The high court did not explain its decision to reject the student’s petition, but Justice Samuel Alito penned a separate dissent against the court’s decision. Alito noted the difference between private speech and government speech under the First Amendment. Constitutional speech protections applied to private speech only, he stated. The high court needed to clarify how much Hazelwood applied to government speech decisions, since the term “government speech” never appeared in the court’s 1988 ruling, Alito argued.

Has Students for Life responded to the decision? The pro-life group acknowledged the court’s decision in a Monday statement. People in power bend the rules to silence unpopular messages, and Alito’s dissent proved that the Supreme Court needed to clarify where government speech begins and ends, according to the group. Pro-life students shouldn’t be forced to choose between speaking the truth and facing retaliation. Even though the case is over, the fight for pro-life voices to be heard has not ended, the group added.

How did this case begin? After school administrators approved E.D.’s request to establish the club, she began drafting informational flyers to post around the school to promote the club’s meetings. All student club flyers must be approved by administrators before being posted and may not include speech deemed political or disruptive, according to school policy.

E.D. proposed using posters from Students for Life America’s website that included phrases like “Defund Planned Parenthood,” and “I am the Pro-Life Generation.” Administrators took issue with the poster including the phrase “Defund Planned Parenthood”, and told E.D. to only include the club’s name and meeting information.