Aug 14, 2024 Federal Court: Treating Misgendering as Bullying Does Not Violate Students’ Free Speech By Debbie Ausburn The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently considered a school's anti-bullying policy that prohibits “discriminatory...
Feb 14, 2024 Georgia Public Schools Must Address Antisemitism By Debbie Ausburn Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on January 31 signed into law a bill requiring all agencies, including public schools, to include...
Jan 13, 2024 Court Finds Valid Free Speech Claims in Lawsuit of Virginia Teacher Fired for Failure to Use Student’s Preferred Pronouns By Debbie Ausburn The Virginia Supreme Court has joined other courts in finding that school systems must meet a high burden in order to discipline teachers...
Oct 21, 2023 School’s Transgender Anti-Bullying Policy Violates First Amendment By Debbie Ausburn The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently enjoined a school’s policy requiring “respect” of students’ gender identities. The court...
Sep 09, 2023 Language Prohibiting Weapons Discussion in Massachusetts School Misses the Target By Debbie Ausburn An elementary school in Massachusetts has adopted a well-intentioned rule that could run afoul of First Amendment principles. The new...
Apr 10, 2023 Custody Order Violated Child’s Free Speech Rights By Debbie Ausburn The Pennsylvania Court of Appeals recently found that a trial court’s restrictions on what a child could call his stepfather infringed on...
Feb 27, 2023 When Off-Campus Speech Is On-Campus Bullying By Debbie Ausburn In its 2021 opinion Mahoney Area Sch. Dist. v. B.L., the Supreme Court ruled that the school in that case could not suspend that...
Jul 16, 2022 Law School’s No-Contact Order Violates First Amendment By Debbie Ausburn A federal district judge recently issued a preliminary injunction against the University of Idaho law school, preventing it from...
Jul 13, 2022 Proposed Title IX Guidelines Could Lead Schools to Violate First Amendment By Debbie Ausburn The U.S. Department of Education has issued proposed new regulations under Title IX, changing many of the existing rules for K-12 and...
Mar 30, 2022 School Supervisors Can Be Personally Liable for Retaliation Against Protected Speech By Debbie Ausburn A fascinating and well-written federal court opinion explores the limits of university authority over a professor's free speech....
Jan 12, 2022 Another Win for Student Free Speech By Debbie Ausburn The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania last week overturned the suspension of a student who posted violent song lyrics on his Snapchat...
Jun 28, 2021 First Amendment Limits Regulation of Off-Campus Student Speech By Debbie Ausburn The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a school has limits on its ability to restrict a student's off-campus speech, although it did not...