Full Appeals Court to Hear EASD 'Boobies' Case
All the judges on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the 'I Heart Boobies' case in which students sued Easton Area School District for suspending them for wearing the bracelets.
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The entire Third Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear the "I Heart Boobies" case in which two Easton Area Middle School students were suspended for wearing the bracelets for breast cancer awareness. The court will sit "en banc" -- which means all the active judges on the Third Circuit bench will hear it, according to the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
The American Civil Liberties Union initally sued the Easton school district in federal court in November 2010 on behalf of students Brianna Hawk and Kayla Martinez, who were suspended for wearing the bracelets from the Keep A Breast Foundation. The district argued the bracelets were inappropriate and could be disruptive. The students testified they only meant to raise awareness of breast cancer.
Federal District Court granted the ACLU and the girls a preliminary injunction in April 2011, ruling the bracelets were not lewd or vulgar. The school district appealed and both sides argued before a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit in April of this year. "Since then we've been awaiting a ruling, but instead got this news," said a statement on the ACLU's web site.
"Today's news means that more than half of the Third Circuit judges believe this case warrants an en banc hearing," the statement said. "As we see it, that's a good thing."
louis kootsares
12:50 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
thats par for this sue happy society..... school should be a dictatorship not a democracy if the parents did not like the school policy put the students in a different school wasting time on this and our courts need to straighten up our country would be a 3rd world country ..if these boohoo liberals were settling it .. we would be living in teepees .
Ken White
2:16 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
My son got one of these. My wife and I asked him about it and when he said the money went to a breast cancer awareness charity we shook our heads and said okay. A day or two of giggles and it was old news. The school should have done the same and endured a couple of days of giggling. Instead, they overreacted, as usual. Punishing kids for doing something good, even in a silly way, is the wrong lesson to teach them. Schools shouldn't be dictatorships; they should mirror the society in which they exist. We live in a constitutional republic where compromise is key. The school should have tried to reach an agreement with these two girls about when they could or could not wear them. Perhaps they could have offered that it's not okay to wear them in class but it is okay in the hallways, at lunch and during recess. But no, uncreative as ever, the school meted out an illogical punishment for the infraction--banishment to the gulag of suspension. Another teachable moment squandered.
Amend Wun
5:08 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
I agree with Ken's assessment.
louis kootsares
8:58 am on Saturday, August 18, 2012
teachable moment ? yes teach them respect and common sense ..if they are at a job and the boss says take off the bracelets.. what are they going to react? ergo living in a constitional republic.. they can sue the company ..or if in the service of our country sue them also no these liberal pukes are lowering our standards respect is just a word..ps i think the school was wrong then again i think that administrations could be replaced by any mid management and it would function better