The judge explained that satire, even offensive satire, is expression that is fully protected by the Constitution. In dismissing the case, Judge Hiatt said that school administrators are public officials and the student's writings were obviously satire. Other allegations accused administrators of being members of the KKK and asserted that certain administrators had been seen meeting in the school library dressed in white cloaks and holding Confederate flags. As the court explained, no reasonable reader could believe that the author was seriously making assertions of actual fact that could harm the administrators' reputations. By ruling on grounds that applied only to this particular prosecution, Judge Hiatt avoided ruling on the ACLU's broader attack on the constitutionality of the criminal libel statute itself.
Civil lawsuits provide an adequate remedy for defamation.
No one should be threatened with jail for what they write.