Appeals Court Says Child May Sue Over Punishment for Expressing Herself in School

The child’s attorneys argued that she was punished for making a drawing not adhering to the racial ideology associated with the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter.’
Appeals Court Says Child May Sue Over Punishment for Expressing Herself in School
Security guards stand in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco on June 12, 2017. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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A federal appeals court revived the lawsuit of a white first grader in California who alleges that she was punished for making what her lawyers call an innocuous drawing that arose out of a history lesson in class.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled unanimously on March 10 that a federal district court was wrong to summarily rule in favor of the Capistrano Unified School District by concluding that the drawing did not constitute protected speech. The stalled lawsuit is now expected to move forward.