A Texas high school cheerleader who was kicked off her squad for not cheering for a basketball player she accused of trying to rape her lost her free speech case before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate court found the female student, identified by the court as H.S. because she’s a minor, had actually violated the speech rights of Silsbee High School by not performing her cheerleading duties.

 

H.S. accused the basketball player, Rakheem Bolton, of attacking her at a party in October 2008. She was saved when other students pounded on the locked door of the room in which she was being attacked. Bolton was suspended from the team until a grand jury, in January 2009, declined to indict him on charges of sexual assault.

 

The following month, H.S. continued to cheer for the basketball team during a game, but refused to cheer for Bolton individually as he took free throws, prompting school officials to suspend her as a cheerleader five days later. Her parents then sued the school claiming it had violated their daughter’s First Amendment rights.

 

But the appellate court ruled against her. “In her capacity as cheerleader, H.S. served as a mouthpiece through which [the school] could disseminate speech—namely, support for its athletic teams,” stated the court. Furthermore, her protest also “constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, H.S. was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily.”

 

On September 14, 2010, two days before the 5th Circuit released its opinion, Bolton pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of Class A assault and was sentenced to two years’ probation.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Court's Ruling in Failure-to-Cheer Case Deserves Boos (by Matthew Heller, On Point)

Court Ruling (U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals) (pdf)

Former High School Football Star Pleads Guilty to Assault in Cheerleader Case (by Lindsey Kovacevich, KFDM News)

Cheerleader Pressured to Cheer for the Basketball Player She Claims Raped Her, Lawsuit Claims (by Colin Guy, Beaumont Enterprise)