Home : News : News : Burlington Burlington Student receives nationwide support for free-speech case Email to a friend Post a Comment Printer-friendly BURLINGTON - Support, both financial and moral, for Avery Doninger's appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has spread across the country.
Doninger is seeking an injunction to overturn the 2008 class officer election results of Lewis S. Mills High School on the grounds that school officials unconstitutionally denied her candidacy. Although she won the election with write-in votes by her classmates, school officials still refuse to allow her to take the 2008 class secretary position.
Doninger alleges she was stripped of her junior class secretary title and not allowed to run for senior class office because she exercised her right to free speech and expressed a grievance on a blog site from her home computer.
On Aug. 31, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kravitz denied Doninger's motion for a temporary injunction, issuing a 34-page memorandum on his ruling 45 minutes after the close of court.
"A battle is lost, the war is not over," said Avery's mother, Lauren. "We now head to the 2nd Circuit to appeal the denial and continue to seek injunctive relief. Additionally, we will file trial paperwork. Unlike the very rushed hearing, this will be a jury trial."
With the appeal expected to cost approximately $20,000, not including payment to attorney John Schoenhorn for his representation, Doninger set up an online donation site. She did not expect support for her appeal would ripple across the nation.
Rod Peña, who maintains the blog site http://aheroaday.squarespace.com with his wife Beth, from Orange County, Calif., recently named the Burlington student the hero of the day and posted a link to her 2nd Circuit Appeal fund site. The blog site frequently highlights the work of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations and makes it a point not to establish links on their behalf, Peña said. However, the couple made an exception for Avery's case.
"Free speech is our most important right, and the cornerstone of humanity's most influential document, the U.S. Constitution," Peña said. "A loss at 2nd Circuit Court could represent a further erosion of such a right, and anyone who understands what it means to be an American owes Ms. Doninger their unconditional support."
Greg Aydt, a world history high school teacher and right-wing conservative from Houston, Texas, also posted a link to Doninger's fund on his site, http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu. He said he put the link on his site because very often he sees school administrators take a very narrow and cramped view of students' rights.
"When you are in your home at [9 p.m.] on your computer, that's not a place the school has any right to intrude, unless it presents a direct threat to student or school safety," Adyt said. "In this case, we have administrators who got their knickers in a twist because you have a student who isn't deferential to them 24 hours a day."
Woodbury resident Aldon Hynes, who maintains www.orient-lodge.com, has been sending word of the appeal fund on the information superhighway.
"There is some poetic justice in the appeal being funded, in part, online, since so much of this started online," Hynes said.
Donations to the Avery Doninger 2nd Circuit Appeal Fund may be sent to Jon L. Schoenhorn & Associates, LLC 108 Oak St. Hartford, CT 06106-1514. The memo on the check should say: "Avery Doninger appeal." Doninger is seeking an injunction to overturn the 2008 class officer election results of Lewis S. Mills High School on the grounds that school officials unconstitutionally denied her candidacy. Although she won the election with write-in votes by her classmates, school officials still refuse to allow her to take the 2008 class secretary position.Doninger alleges she was stripped of her junior class secretary title and not allowed to run for senior class office because she exercised her right to free speech and expressed a grievance on a blog site from her home computer.On Aug. 31, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kravitz denied Doninger's motion for a temporary injunction, issuing a 34-page memorandum on his ruling 45 minutes after the close of court."A battle is lost, the war is not over," said Avery's mother, Lauren. "We now head to the 2nd Circuit to appeal the denial and continue to seek injunctive relief. Additionally, we will file trial paperwork. Unlike the very rushed hearing, this will be a jury trial."With the appeal expected to cost approximately $20,000, not including payment to attorney John Schoenhorn for his representation, Doninger set up an online donation site. She did not expect support for her appeal would ripple across the nation.Rod Peña, who maintains the blog site http://aheroaday.squarespace.com with his wife Beth, from Orange County, Calif., recently named the Burlington student the hero of the day and posted a link to her 2nd Circuit Appeal fund site. The blog site frequently highlights the work of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations and makes it a point not to establish links on their behalf, Peña said. However, the couple made an exception for Avery's case."Free speech is our most important right, and the cornerstone of humanity's most influential document, the U.S. Constitution," Peña said. "A loss at 2nd Circuit Court could represent a further erosion of such a right, and anyone who understands what it means to be an American owes Ms. Doninger their unconditional support."Greg Aydt, a world history high school teacher and right-wing conservative from Houston, Texas, also posted a link to Doninger's fund on his site, http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu. He said he put the link on his site because very often he sees school administrators take a very narrow and cramped view of students' rights."When you are in your home at [9 p.m.] on your computer, that's not a place the school has any right to intrude, unless it presents a direct threat to student or school safety," Adyt said. "In this case, we have administrators who got their knickers in a twist because you have a student who isn't deferential to them 24 hours a day."Woodbury resident Aldon Hynes, who maintains www.orient-lodge.com, has been sending word of the appeal fund on the information superhighway."There is some poetic justice in the appeal being funded, in part, online, since so much of this started online," Hynes said.Donations to the Avery Doninger 2nd Circuit Appeal Fund may be sent to Jon L. Schoenhorn & Associates, LLC 108 Oak St. Hartford, CT 06106-1514. The memo on the check should say: "Avery Doninger appeal."
©The Bristol Press 2007
Reader Comments Submit your own comment! I don't think so They have raised 500 bucks. I would call your categorization of SWEEPING the NATION completely ridiculous. There have been 3-4 bloggers added to the "cause" from what I can see. Why don't you write an actual real commentary instead of being a polical pundit for the single sided thinker real douchebag, Andy Thibault. How does it feel to be a tool and not write one thing of merit since this case surfaced. The Real Justice , Burlington, CT
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On August 31, United States district court judge Mark Kravitz ruled against Burlington, Connecticut high school student Avery Doninger's request for a preliminary injunction to let her function as class secretary at Lewis S. Mills High School. Doninger had won the Class Secretary position at the high school. Earlier Doninger had posted derogatory comments on her blog about school officials and the school administration did not allow her to take the position as Class Secretary. Doninger alleges that the school's actions violated her First Amendment right to free speech.  

Also at issue is whether Doninger's use of the school's email system for an earlier mass email played a part in the school's decision. The school claims that the email led to serious disruption while Doninger claims that the email was only cited retroactively.

Kravitz ruled that there was not a substantial likelihood that Doninger would win her case against the school and thus declined to grant the injunction. Kravitz stated that although Doninger did not write the blog entry while on-campus, "Avery's blog entry may be considered on-campus speech for the purposes of the First Amendment." Kravits reasoned that the blogs' arguable on-campus nature together with Supreme Courts precedents that students have more limited free speech rights while on campus combined to give Doninger a weak case. 

The ruling has been criticized, with some observers arguing that by Kravitz's logic, almost any online speech by students can be severely restricted by school administrators. This ruling is a setback to Doninger, although she and her family stated that they intend to appeal the injunction and also continue with their lawsuit.

Doninger's case gained national attention earlier after Doninger set up a website to appeal for donations to help with legal fees associated with the cause. The exact limits of students free speech rights in public schools has been a matter of controversy since 1969 when in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District the United States Supreme Court ruled that students have some free speech rights in schools. In later cases, such as Bethel School District v. Fraser, and  Morse v. Frederick, colloquially known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, the Supreme Court ruled that students in public schools while engaging in actions on campus or otherwise affiliated with the school do not enjoy the complete First Amendment protections that would normally apply to citizens in other circumstances.