Free Speech Law and the Case of So vs. Post Leader
...chool board members removed a critically acclaimed book about a relationship between two girls because they deemed it to be educationally unsuitable because it was a “glorification of the gay lifestyle,” as noted in Pember (Pember, pp. 97). When students and teachers took the board to court citing a violation of their First Amendment rights to obtain information, the board members presented a case based on the unsuitability of the ideas within the book. (Case v. United School District No. 233, 895 F. Supp. 1463 (1995)). The court sided with the students and parents because the testimony of the board members failed to convince the judges of the unsuitability of the work for educational dissemination. The Orange Grove case is strikingly similar. If there is no other reason—such as sex or violence—for the books to be taken off the shelves, the court will probably side with the students and parents who challenge the notion of the educational unsuitability of gay characters. Will So win? The Post Leader argues that So is a public figure. Will the argument succeed? Jimmy So should win his libel case against the Post Leader and/or Karl Kurl for defamation. The defendants’ claim was clearly defamatory and, more damaging, wrong. The paper’s claim of So as a public figure will likely succeed, but this claim will not negate the harm done by the allegation of criminal activity. The most damaging aspect of the Post Leader’s case is the fact that Kurl alleged something that later turned out to be false. His inclusion of the phrase “There is strong reason to bel...