‘I Heart Boobies’ Bracelets: School Case Heads to Supreme Court; Superintendent Thinks They're Sexual [VIDEO]
A battle between two girls and their Pennsylvania school over bracelets meant to raise Breast Cancer Awareness is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Problems arose in 2010 when two girls, then aged 12 and 13, wore rubber bracelets with the phrase "I Heart Boobies" printed on them to their Easton area middle school on Breast Cancer Awareness Day. They were suspended for wearing the armband when they refused to take them off. The school claimed the braclets were inappropriate.
The students, Brianna Hawk and Kayla Martinez, brought the suit against the school soon after.
The Easton Area School District board recently voted 7-1 to appeal the federal court's decision that the bracelets were not lewd, as the school claimed when it suspended the girls for wearing them. The district is trying to get the bracelets banned from school entirely.
The case could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court as a result.
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted to uphold a lower court's decision in favor of the girls in August, stating that the school district could not prove the bracelets were disruptive to a student's learning environment.
Mary Catherine Roper, attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union representing the girls, told MSN she wasn't surprised the school board voted to petition the case to the Supreme Court.
"I'm just really surprised that they're so determined to fight this speech case of all speech cases," she said. "(The bracelets) didn't cause any problems in the school."
The superintendent of Easton schools, John Reinhart, supports the board's decision. He called the bracelets "cause-based marketing energized by sexual double-entendres."
Other schools around the country have posted bans on the bracelets, which are distributed by the nonprofit Keep a Breast Foundation of Carlsbad, Calif.
