The case of the cursing cheerleader: Justices give students free speech win

When Brandi Levy went with a friend to the Cocoa Hut in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, four years ago she didn’t plan on enshrining herself in American legal history.

Yet that is what has now transpired, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in her favor this week in a landmark free speech case. For the first time in its history – in an opinion that ranged from 1940s case law to details of the Snapchat social media app – the high court considered when and how a school can regulate a student’s speech off campus.

Breaking a decadeslong trend of siding against students in constitutional challenges, the justices ruled 8-1 in Ms. Levy’s favor. Not that they approved of her comments that propelled her to the court in