Two High School Hockey Players’ First Amendment Defense to Cyberbullying Iced by the First Circuit Court of Appeals

By Professor Robert J Romano, JD, LLM, St John’s University, Senior Writer In June 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the matter of Mahanoy Area School District vs. B.L.[1], issued a ruling regarding a high school student’s First Amendment right to free speech in this, the digital age. In its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a public high school infringed the First Amendment rights of one of its students when it disciplined her for profane, off-campus language. Apparently, the stu