11th Circuit protects speech at public school board meetings

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Mathew Hoffmann regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit’s decision Tuesday in Moms for Liberty–Brevard County v. Brevard Public Schools that rejected public school board members’ ability to pick and choose which views to allow:

“Too often, public universities and schools weaponize their speech policies to censor unpopular—yet protected—speech. Whether it’s a parent voicing concerns at a school board meeting or a student on a college campus discussing a current issue, Americans are free to express their views. The government doesn’t get to decide which views it will accept and which views are ‘offensive’ or ‘abusive.’ The 11th Circuit rightly clarified that freedom of speech is for everyone, and that it’s unlawful for the government to choose winners and losers in public debate.”

In the case, Brevard Public Schools maintains an overly broad policy that bans any “statement” that board members subjectively deem “abusive” at board of education meetings. Brevard Public Schools’ prohibition on “abusive” speech allows district officials to unlawfully discriminate against certain points of view with which they disagree. For example, officials censored a member of Moms for Liberty who criticized “administer[ing] hormone blocking drugs to small children in the process of transitioning their gender,” claiming the speaker’s comments “insult[ed] half of [the] audience” and “were personally-directed, abusive, and irrelevant.”

In April 2023, ADF attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case on behalf of Young America’s Foundation.

“The First Amendment guarantees the right of every American to express their opinions no matter how ‘offensive’ some might find them,” said YAF Associate General Counsel Madison Hahn. “This victory ensures that leftist administrators and student governments cannot shut down YAF speech simply by labeling it ‘abusive.’ YAF students are on the front lines in the battle for truth, and, armed with the First Amendment, will continue to fight bad ideas with good ones.”

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.

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