Law & Courts News in Brief

Indiana High Court Throws Out Punishment Over MySpace Page

By Mark Walsh — May 20, 2008 1 min read
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The Indiana Supreme Court has thrown out a finding of child delinquency for a middle school student who posted a vulgarity-laced tirade against her principal on MySpace.com.

While a state trial court found the girl, “A.B.,” delinquent on several harassment charges, a state appeals court had reversed that decision, ruling that the student’s speech was protected by the First Amendment.

The Indiana Supreme Court last week also ruled for the student, but on different grounds. In a unanimous opinion, the court said the student’s message was not truly directed at the principal because he was not among the MySpace subscribers authorized to view it.

See Also

See other stories on education issues in Indiana. See data on Indiana’s public school system.

A version of this article appeared in the May 21, 2008 edition of Education Week

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