Samuel Alito Urges Clarity in Indiana Freedom Of Speech Case
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an Indiana freedom of speech challenge over Noblesville High School’s refusal to allow a student-led anti-abortion group to post flyers that said “Defund Planned Parenthood.” The denial leaves a lower court ruling in place for the school and the club founded by freshman E.D.
Noblesville Flyers
E.D. launched Noblesville Students for Life in 2021 at Noblesville High School, where the club was one of more than 70 noncurriculum-based student groups. The school allowed clubs to hang flyers in common areas after administrator approval, but court filings said posters could not include content deemed “political” or “disruptive.”
E.D. submitted two flyer templates from the Students for Life of America website. They showed students holding signs reading “Defund Planned Parenthood” and “I am the Pro-Life Generation.” An assistant principal rejected the posters and told E.D. the flyers should include only the club name, meeting location, date and time.
Alito And Hazelwood
E.D. met with the school’s dean with her mother, Lisa Duell, and was told the phrase “Defund Planned Parenthood” could not appear on the flyers. The school’s principal later suspended the club’s approval, citing concerns that it was not student-led and student-driven and that E.D. would not follow the flyer instructions. Noblesville Students for Life was reinstated in 2022 and remained active.
Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the Supreme Court’s action and said the court should “clarify the relationship between” a 1988 school-speech decision and later government-speech rulings. The district court that sided with the school said the flyers “could reasonably be perceived to bear the imprimatur of the school,” and it applied Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, which allows schools to exercise “editorial control over the style and content of student speech in school-sponsored expressive activities so long as their actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.”
Lower Court Ruling
E.D.’s parents and Noblesville Students for Life sued after the school refused the posters, arguing their First Amendment rights were violated. The federal district court ruled for the school, and Monday’s denial leaves that outcome intact. For student clubs that use school bulletin space, the practical result is that a school can keep control over flyer language when it says the posting could look like school endorsement.
