Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-255_g3bi.pdf
Page Number: 8

Cite as:  594 U. S. ____ (2021) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

also  Brown  v.  Entertainment  Merchants  Assn.,  564  U. S. 
786, 794 (2011) (“[M]inors are entitled to a significant meas-
ure of First Amendment protection” (alteration in original; 
internal quotation marks omitted)).  But we have also made 
clear that courts must apply the First Amendment “in light
of  the  special  characteristics  of  the  school  environment.” 
Hazelwood  School  Dist.  v.  Kuhlmeier,  484  U. S.  260,  266 
(1988) (internal quotation mark omitted).  One such char-
acteristic, which we have stressed, is the fact that schools 
at times stand in loco parentis, i.e., in the place of parents. 
See Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U. S. 675, 684 
(1986).

This Court has previously outlined three specific catego-
ries of student speech that schools may regulate in certain
circumstances: (1) “indecent,” “lewd,” or “vulgar” speech ut-
tered during a school assembly on school grounds, see id., 
at 685; (2) speech, uttered during a class trip, that promotes
“illegal drug use,” see Morse v. Frederick, 551 U. S. 393, 409 
(2007); and (3) speech that others may reasonably perceive
as “bear[ing] the imprimatur of the school,” such as that ap-
pearing  in  a  school-sponsored  newspaper,  see  Kuhlmeier, 
484 U. S., at 271.
  Finally, in Tinker, we said schools have a special interest
in regulating speech that “materially disrupts classwork or
involves  substantial  disorder  or  invasion  of  the  rights  of 
others.”  393 U. S., at 513.  These special characteristics call 
for special leeway when schools regulate speech that occurs 
under its supervision.

Unlike  the  Third  Circuit,  we  do  not  believe  the  special 
characteristics that give schools additional license to regu-
late student speech always disappear when a school regu-
lates speech that takes place off campus.  The school’s reg-
ulatory  interests  remain  significant  in  some  off-campus
circumstances.  The parties’ briefs, and those of amici, list 
several types of off-campus behavior that may call for school