Third Circuit Expands First Amendment Speech Protection for Students’ Off-Campus Speech

Theresa E. Loscalzo and Arleigh P. Helfer III published a client alert, “Third Circuit Expands First Amendment Speech Protection for Students’ Off-Campus Speech.”

On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held in B.L. v. Mahanoy Area School District, No. 19-1842, that a high school student’s off-campus speech was protected by the First Amendment to the same extent an adult’s would be. The Third Circuit affirmed in a precedential opinion expressly holding for the first time that off-campus student speech was protected to the full extent afforded by the First Amendment and not subject to the well-known Tinker standard that applies to student speech in school.

Click here to read the full Alert.