After discovering the blog entry, school officials refused to allow Doninger to run for re-election as class secretary. Doninger won anyway with write-in votes, but the school refused to allow her to take office.
A lower federal court supported the school, denying Doninger's request for an injunction, and saying it believed she could be punished for writing in a blog because the blog
addressed school issues and was likely to be read by other students. The court's upholding of the school's right to rescind student free speech rights not only in the context of school activities but in the realm of extracurricular speech marks the most blatant expansion yet of the parameters of school authority (and concomitant erosion of student free speech rights) beyond the school building. In the notorious Bong Hits for Jesus case a year ago the US Supreme Court ruled that schools could curtail student free speech on school grounds, a least if that speech could be interpreted as promoting drug use. Doninger is appealing the ruling in a case which could have pivotal implications for student rights in the internet era.
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