J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, Civil No. 2007-00585 (M.D. Pa. summary judgment granted Sept. 11, 2008).
Status: Appeal of summary judgment grant to defendants pending (argued June 2, 2009).

On a home computer, students J.S. and K.L. created and postred a fake MySpace page that appeared to be for the principal of their high school. The fake profile, which used the principal’s photograph but not his name, described him as a pedophile and a sex addict. The two girls were suspended from school for ten days.

One of the girls and her parents sued, arguing that the school could not discipline her for activity that occurred totally outside of school. The district court disagreed, holding that “as vulgar, lewd, and potentially illegal speech that had an effect on campus, we find that the school did not violate the plaintiff’s rights in punishing her for it even though it arguably did not cause a substantial disruption of the school.”

The plaintiffs appealed, and the case was argued before the court of appeals on June 2, 2009. No. 08-4138 (3rd Cir. appeal filed Oct. 6, 2008).

Links and Court Documents:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080922-judge-school-can-suspend-students-over-fake-myspace-profile.html
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202424549808
Docket: http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/pennsylvania/pamdce/3:2007cv00585/67046/
Opinion granting summary judgment: http://howappealing.law.com/JSvsBlueMountainSD.pdf