LaVine v. Blaine School District: Fear Silences Student Speech in the Ninth Circuit

Authors

Shannon M. McMinimee

Abstract

In LaVine v. Blaine School District, the Ninth Circuit allowed a school to expel a student for writing a poem about a school shooting. The court held that the school did not violate the student's First Amendment rights because the school could reasonably forecast that the student would cause a substantial disruption or material interference with school activities. This Note argues that the LaVine court incorrectly applied the established standards for evaluating the constitutionality of a school's decision to expel a student. The LaVine court also unwisely extended the Tinker doctrine to a new area of student speech. In doing so, the court departed from U.S. Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedent and failed to provide lower courts and schools with a clear framework for evaluating student speech believed to be a threat of violence.

First Page

545

Recommended Citation

Shannon M. McMinimee, Notes and Comments, LaVine v. Blaine School District: Fear Silences Student Speech in the Ninth Circuit, 77 Wash. L. Rev. 545 (2002).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol77/iss2/6