In Cl.G. v. Siegfried, (10th Cir., July 6, 2022), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court's dismissal of a high school student's claim that his 1st Amendment rights were violated when he was expelled for an antisemitic Snapchat post. His captioned a picture of his friends in wigs and hats to read "Me and the boys bout [sic] to exterminate the Jews." He removed the post after two hours and posted an apology, saying it was meant to be a joke. Relying in large part on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2021 decision in Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist. v. B.L., the court said in part:
Because CCHS cannot stand in loco parentis and the Complaint alleges no reasonable forecast of substantial disruption or actual disruption, Plaintiff has properly alleged that Defendants’ discipline of C.G. for his off-campus speech is a First Amendment violation that cannot be dismissed at this stage.
Reuters reports on the decision.
