![\"Child's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/california-judge-sided-school-district-123500959.jpg\")
B.B.\u2019s drawing, which says \u201cBlack Lives Matter, any lives.\u201d U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit,<\/p>\nA California appeals court backed a child who wrote \u201cany life\u201d and innocently drew the thumbprints of her friends under \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d in a picture at school, which she was later punished for. <\/p>\n
A lower court previously backed the child\u2019s school principal, Jesus Becerra, who worked at Viejo Elementary School in Mission Viejo, California.<\/p>\n
The child, who is white and identified as \u201cB.B.\u201d in court documents, in 2021 drew the picture and gave it to a black classmate, \u201cM.C.,\u201d after the class listened to a story about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n
The black child then took the latter child took the picture home where M.C.\u2019s mother raised concerns with the school. B.B.\u2019s mom, Chelsea Boyle, alleges Becerra told B.B. that the drawing was racist, forced her to apologize to M.C., and banned her from recess for two weeks.<\/p>\n
B.B.\u2019s drawing, which says \u201cBlack Lives Matter, any lives.\u201d U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit,<\/p>\n
Boyle later filed suit against the school, alleging B.B.\u2019s First Amendment rights were violated.<\/p>\n
The lower court disagreed, concluding the drawing was not protected speech and interfered with the black student\u2019s right to be let alone. <\/p>\n
But the higher court, using the landmark Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case that established that high school students have the right to protest the Vietnam War, decided to vacate the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case presents an important issue: to what extent is elementary students\u2019 speech protected by the First Amendment?\u201d the three-judge panel wrote\u00a0in a per curiam opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cApplying the criteria set forth in\u00a0Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District\u00a0, we hold that elementary students\u2019 speech is protected by the First Amendment, the age of the students is a relevant factor under\u00a0Tinker\u00a0, and schools may restrict students\u2019 speech only when the restriction is reasonably necessary to protect the safety and well-being of its students. Because the\u00a0Tinker\u00a0analysis raises genuine issues of material fact, we vacate the grant of summary judgment and remand,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n The lower court judge, U.S. District Judge David Carter, a Bill Clinton appointee, argued that age was a factor in his decision. <\/p>\n \u201cThus, the downsides of regulating speech there is not as significant as it is in high schools, where students are approaching voting age and controversial speech could spark conducive conversation,\u201d Carter wrote.<\/p>\n But the higher court said age is a relevant but \u201cnon-dispositive\u201d factor.<\/p>\n \u201cDisagreeing with the district court\u2019s determination that the drawing was not protected by the First Amendment, the panel held that elementary students\u2019 speech is protected by the First Amendment,\u00a0Tinker\u00a0applies in the elementary student speech context, and elementary students\u2019 young age is a relevant, but non-dispositive, factor,\u201d the panel wrote.<\/p>\n Boyle celebrated the higher court\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t just a win for my daughter. It strengthens constitutional protections for students across the country,\u201d she wrote in an Instagram post.<\/p>\n \u201cTurns out\u2026The Constitution doesn\u2019t have an age limit,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Her attorneys followed suit.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s ruling affirms what should be obvious: Students don\u2019t lose their constitutional rights just because they\u2019re young,\u201d Caleb Trotter, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a\u00a0release published online<\/a>. \u201cThe Constitution protects every student\u2019s right to free expression. No child should be punished for expressing a well-intentioned message to a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/james-r-browning-united-states-123501794.jpg\")
The Ninth Court of Appeals. AP<\/p>\n