In 2017, Brandi Levy, a junior-varsity cheerleader at Mahanoy Area High School, in Pennsylvania, was denied a spot on the college’s varsity squad. That weekend, off campus, Levy posted a livid, profanity-filled picture and message about the choice on Snapchat. A scholar who noticed the message confirmed a screenshot to her mom—the cheer coach. Levy was barred from cheerleading for the remainder of the yr. The A.C.L.U. helped Levy’s mother and father file go well with in opposition to the college in federal court docket, claiming that Brandi’s First Amendment proper to free speech had been curtailed. Last week, 4 years after that pivotal snap, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. Jeannie Suk Gersen joins Dorothy Wickenden to debate this contentious case and what it means free of charge speech in the digital age.
