On behalf of a former Noblesville, Indiana, high school student and her pro-life group, attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their free speech case, ADF announced in a Jan. 28 press release.
In September 2021, Noblesville High School revoked its recognition of the student-led club Noblesville Students for Life after the student-founder, known as E.D. in legal documents, attempted to advertise the club’s first meeting.
The school principal first approved the club in August 2021, and the club accumulated more than 30 student signups.
E.D. prepared flyers picturing young people in front of the Supreme Court with signs reading “I Reject Abortion,” “Defund Planned Parenthood” and “I Am the Pro-Life Generation.” However, school officials prohibited her from posting the flyers, insisting the pictures with “Defund Planned Parenthood” were too political, although the school does not have a written policy prohibiting such content, and other clubs such as Conservative Club, Noblesville Young Democrats, Young Republicans and Gender and Sexuality Alliance exist at the school.
E.D. spoke with an administrator to receive approval for the flyers, but the principal responded by revoking the club’s official school recognition.
John Bursch, senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy at ADF, said students do not “lose their constitutionally protected freedom of speech when they walk into a school building.”
“A school can’t tell a high-school student or student organization that they can’t publicly express pro-life messages that are important to them,” said Bursch. “While other student groups at the school were free to express their messages, the school censored this club’s flyers and then revoked the club’s recognition because the messages on the flyers were too overtly pro-life.”
In December 2021, the legal group Charitable Allies filed suit against the school for violating E.D.’s First and 14th Amendment rights. In March 2024, a federal district court sided with the school district. ADF argued the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in the October 2024. However, that court also ruled in favor of the school district. After ADF’s petition for a full 7th Circuit hearing was denied, ADF and Charitable Allies petitioned the Supreme Court to review the decision.
For protections on students’ speech, “The need for clarity,” says the petition, “is especially acute as public schools and educators increasingly engage in political advocacy and indoctrination, heightening the risk that students who dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy will be censored.”
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, called the case a representation of the “typical abuse of students’ free-speech rights.”
“Administrators will throw up roadblocks for pro-life clubs because they don’t want pro-life speech in schools, fearing that some may find it controversial,” Hawkins said in a press release. “Our petition will focus on an attempted ban on ‘political’ speech. Free speech rights you can’t use don’t exist. We are not going to forget about our students’ rights or ignore attempts to silence them, no matter how long it takes.”
