SCOTUS gets lots of heat for the several rulings of late, like Citizens United, that shred the Constitution to remake America into a Republican Fascist Corporate Plutocracy. Often however, great injustice falls by the wayside unnoticed, due to their silence, expressed by refusing to hear a case when when a lower court has behaved shamefully. Such is the case of a girl, known as HS, whose First Amendment right to freedom of expression was denied by the Fifth Circuit.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court declined to review the case of a recent Texas high school student who was kicked off her school’s cheerleading squad after she refused to chant the name of a basketball player who had allegedly raped her. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most conservative courts in the country, ruled last November that the victim — who is known only as H.S. — had no right to refuse to applaud her attacker because as a cheerleader in uniform, she was an agent of the school. To add insult to injury, the Fifth Circuit dismissed her case as “frivolous” and sanctioned the girl, forcing her family to pay the school district’s $45,000 legal fees.
According to court documents, H.S. was 16 when she was raped at a house party by one of her school’s star athletes, Rakheem Bolton. Bolton was arrested, but by pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault, he received a reduced sentence of probation and community service. Bolton was allowed to return to school and resume his place on the basketball team. Four months later, H.S. was cheering with her squad at a game when Bolton lined up to take a free throw. The squad wanted to do a cheer that included his name, but H.S. refused, choosing instead to stand silently with her arms folded.
“I didn’t want to have to say his name and I didn’t want to cheer for him,” she later told reporters. “I just didn’t want to encourage anything he was doing.”
Several school officials of the “sports obsessed” small town took issue with H.S.’s silence, and ordered her to cheer for Bolton. When H.S. refused again, she was expelled from the cheerleading squad. Her family decided to sue school officials and the district. Their lawyer argued that H.S.’s right to exercise free expression had been violated and that students shouldn’t be punished for not complying with “insensitive and unreasonable directions.”
Leading legal scholars have pointed out that this case is about more than justice for one purported rape victim — it’s a civil rights issue that goes to the heart of students’ right of free speech under the First Amendment. Though it might seem obvious to most people that H.S. had every right to sit out that cheer, the lower court insisted that as a cheerleader, she was speaking for the school and as such had no right to stay silent when coaches told her to applaud her alleged rapist… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Alternet>
No wonder Clarence Thomas is laughing.
The temptation here is to focus on the criminal, but that is not the issue at all. He committed a crime, and was sentenced, as a court deemed appropriate. I will not second guess that court, because there are too many particulars about the incident that I do not know.
The real issue is here is that her reluctance to cheer for this individual was reasonable. Had it been based on racism, homophobia, or some other form or recognized criminal hatred, that Republicans so love, the Fifth Circuit would have been correct, but that was not the case. She had just cause for refusing to participate in an activity that was traumatic for her.
SCOTUS could have heard the case, should have heard the case, and seen that justice prevailed, but instead they demonstrated that individual rights matter nothing to them, except to protect the misbegotten right of individual corporate criminals to offend.
8 Responses to “SCOTUS: Injustice Through Silence”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
TC once again you are right. As a woman, this is offensive to me and I would have done the same thing. The Fifth Court was wrong in denying this woman her constitutional rights of free speech and she was not an “agent” of the school by wearing a cheerleading uniform. If the Fifth Court heard this, why isn’t there an appellate court that can hear this before it goes to SCOTUS? 😡 😡 😡
Lisa, the Fifth Circuit is the top Federal appeals court under SCOTUS. I agree.
Maybe Obama should pack the court. We know that all the regressive legislation being passed in the states will eventually end up before SCOTUS. With the current bunch of scoundrals presently sitting on the bench, these laws have no chance of being overturned.
How so, Leslie? Republicans are filibustering his nominations hand over fist.
I’m disappointed that the Supreme Court refused to hear this case, and my heart goes out to that girl.
Amen to that, Ahab.
Givven that
[1] This occurred in Texas
[2] Silsbee, a town w/ a population of 7,431 – has a football stadium that holds 7,000
[3] The rapist (NOT alleged, the courts ruled he is a R-A-P-I-S-T) is a “star” athlete
… there’s little doubt how this would turn out.
One would think that under WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ET AL.v. BARNETTE ET AL, a compelled speech case that struck down the state law forcing public school students to say the Pledge of Allegiance every day, that she should have prevailed.
But no matter what, the District judge exhibited a sick sense of justice in declaring the victim of a degrading criminal assault, already punished by the abysmally bad judgment of school officials, responsible for the Rapist’s legal fees … to the tune of $45,000.00!
Thanks for the details, Nameless. I fully agree.