Kansas School Board Partially Beats Critic’s Free Speech Suit

A Kansas school board succeeded in narrowing, but not in ending, a civil rights lawsuit by a frequent critic who claims his First Amendment rights were violated when he was banned from providing comment during board meetings online.

The activist may prove that the Lawrence, Kan. school board’s restrictions on his speech were content-based; if he does, they are presumptively unconstitutional and subject to strict scrutiny, the US District Court for the District of Kansas said, denying dismissal in part. He also convinced the court to preserve a retaliation claim against the board.

Justin Spiehs said that he sometimes challenged ...