Posted on 10/05/2010 11:33:42 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA
A former Silsbee, Texas, high school cheerleader did not have a First Amendment right to refuse to cheer for a basketball player she claimed had sexually assaulted her, a federal appeals court panel has ruled.
The student — known in court papers as H.S. — attended a party after a Silsbee High School football game in October 2008, when she was 16. She alleged that several individuals sexually assaulted her, including then-football players Rakheem Bolton, Christian Rountree and an unidentified juvenile.
In January 2009, a racially divided grand jury from Hardin County refused to indict the players, who did not have criminal records. (Later, some of the players were indicted.)
H.S. said that school officials ordered her to cheer for Bolton, who also played on the basketball team, at a February 2009 game. H.S. cheered for the team, but refused to cheer for Bolton individually. She said that Richard Bain Jr., the superintendent of schools, and Gail Lokey, who was the principal at Silsbee High, ordered her to cheer for Bolton when the other cheerleaders cheered or go home. H.S. refused, left the game, and was subsequently dismissed from the squad by cheerleading coach Sissy McInnis.
In May 2009, H.S.’s parents — known in court papers as John and Jane Doe — sued District Attorney David Sheffield, Silsbee Independent School District, Superintendent Bain, Principal Lokey and McInnis. H.S.’s parents argued that Sheffield violated the First Amendment by retaliating against H.S. for filing sexual-assault charges by revealing details about the case to the public.
(Excerpt) Read more at firstamendmentcenter.org ...
“It would also seem to me that forcing a student to “accept” using God’s name in vain as a requirement for appearing in a play would be a violation of the establishment clause”
Good grief.
Roethlisberger hs got to be shaking his head, say what?
If “One Nation Under God” can be called a “prayer” then most certainly “God DaMN” in a literary work is a similar “establishment”.
Blame the parents, they force her to attend a school with her rapist.
It’s still a bad ruling.
You cannot compel a person to speak.
Megyn Kelly: “The 5th Circuit got it wrong”
It’s a valid question; perhaps she didn’t want what they did to her to change how she supported her school and the rest of the team. If so, she is a brave one.
I find it curious that the court thinks that “the work of the school” was harmed by her not cheering for her attacker. The vast majority of the people at that game would’ve probably pitched the rapist off the field if they’d known what was going on.
Why are the jerks allowed to play basketball? Why are there not standards for players?
Excellent question.
Seems as though in today’s America, we only have to show tolerance for criminals.....none for victims.
The court didn’t compel her to speak.
She cannot refuse to cheer.
That’s retarded.
READ THE ARTICLE.
So it’s her fault she was sexually assaulted?
No, she could have stopped being a cheerleader. In fact, that's what happened to her. All the court said (and it was 3 judges, not 1, BTW all Republican appointees) was that she couldn't simultaneously remain a cheerleader and decide for herself which cheers she would perform and which she wouldn't.
School officials probably could have handled this a lot better, but there is a big gap between bad judgment and a constitutional violation.
Why in the world should someone be expected to stop doing something she loves, that supports her community, because some filth rapes her? Besides, she probably had the expectation that a rapist would be punished instead of being cleared.
My wife played junior high basketball the night after her parents died in a plane crash, because she felt it honored her commitment to the team and staying home wouldn’t bring her parents back. And keep in mind this is a woman who hasn’t played or even watched roundball in the 18 years I’ve known her. If she could muster that, why shouldn’t this victim be able to muster the same courage and refuse to be chased off the field by an evil act?
The school officials let a rapist on the team and forced a cheerleader rape victim to quit.
That’s a good thing to you?
I read that.
So they pled down to a lessser charge. Just what I said. They weren’t indicted for sexual assualt.
They let the rapist on the team and forced the victim off the cheerleader squad.
Amazingly some blame the parents of the girl for not moving to a new city.
wow. blame the victim.
If they can’t afford private school you’d force the VICTIM to move to a new city??
wow.
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