Federal court decision appealed to protect the free speech of a first-grader

Sacramento; July 15, 2024: Today, Pacific Legal Foundation asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court ruling in California that said elementary school students have no First Amendment rights. 

Six-year-old B.B.* was introduced to the phrase “Black Lives Matter” in her first-grade class during a lesson about Martin Luther King, Jr. Feeling empathy for one of her classmates, B.B. drew a picture for her. On the picture she wrote “Black Lives Mater (sic),” added “any life,” and gave the picture to her classmate. The classmate put the picture in her backpack and the children continued the school day.  

Upon finding the picture in her backpack, the parents of B.B.’s classmate were concerned that their daughter was being singled out for her race. Although they understood that B.B. was acting completely innocently, they questioned the school about it. The school completely overreacted to the parental inquiry: It forced B.B. to apologize for her “racist” drawing, banned her from recess for two weeks, and even banned her from drawing pictures for friends. B.B.’s parents were never informed about the incident or the related punishments.  

“An elementary school is not a totalitarian environment where students have no rights. The district court was wrong to conclude otherwise, bucking longstanding Supreme Court precedent and totally stripping a child of her First Amendment rights,” said Caleb Trotter, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation.  

Represented by Pacific Legal Foundation at no charge, B.B. and her mother are fighting back. They’ve asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the lower court’s dangerous ruling and restore the free speech rights of all students, including first-graders.  

The case is B.B. v. Capistrano Unified School District, et al.

*Our client is a minor and is using the pseudonym B.B. for privacy.