Appeal Filed In School Graduation Speech Case

An appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has been filed in Corder v. Lewis Palmer School District No. 38. Yesterday's Colorado Springs (CO) Gazette reports on the filing in the case in which a high school valedictorian was required to apologize for including unauthorized religious material in her 30-second portion of a joint graduation speech. In July, a Colorado federal district court upheld officials' actions, finding that schools can reasonably regulate the content of school-sponsored speech. (See prior posting.) A release by Liberty Counsel, which is representing former student Erica Corder in the appeal, says that the school had no authority over Corder once she was no longer a student.