Students Expelled for ‘Ku Klux Klan Starter Pack’ Instagram Posts ‘Obviously’ Have No First Amendment Protection, Appeals Court Rules – By Elura Nanos (Law & Crime) / Dec 28, 2022
Two students who sued their California high school after being expelled for making and “liking” racist Instagram posts cannot fall back on free speech arguments — and it isn’t a close question, a federal appeals court ruled.
A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the posts comparing Black students to gorillas and using lynching imagery were “obviously” not protected by the First Amendment.
Cedric Epple and Kevin Chen were students at Albany High School when Epple created a private Instagram account username “@yungcavage” for the purpose of sharing “funny memes” with a small audience of close friends that “other people might not find funny or appropriate.” During the 2016-17 school year, Epple repeatedly used the @yungcavage account to cruelly insult his classmates.
