Opinion ID: 775498
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Was This Speech?

Text: 39 Before deciding whether Cockrel's speech was constitutionally protected, this court must first address the question of whether Cockrel's activity can be considered speech at all. The district court's decision disposing of Cockrel's First Amendment claims appears to be based on two separate theories that the court uses interchangeably. First, the district court stated that Cockrel's decision to bring in a speaker who would give a presentation on industrial hemp should not be considered speech. The district court further held that a teacher's decisions regarding the content of the curriculum she will teach to her class, even if considered speech, is still not protected by the First Amendment. We put the second holding aside for a moment and turn to the first. 40 The district court held that, because Cockrel simply chose to bring in speakers who would talk about industrial hemp, rather than speaking on the matter herself, [h]er free speech claim is based solely on conduct. J.A. at 31 (Dist. Ct. Mem. Op.). Also influential in the district court's decision was its notion that, in staging an industrial hemp presentation, Cockrel was not intending to convey a particularized message, nor was she advocating or speaking against hemp's use as an environmental alternative to cutting down trees. J.A. at 35 (Dist. Ct. Mem. Op.) (quotation omitted). 41 Regardless of the reasoning upon which it relied, the district court erred in holding Cockrel's conduct not to be speech. First, to the extent the district court was persuaded that Cockrel's actions did not constitute speech because Woody Harrelson, rather than Cockrel, was doing the speaking, this was error. As the Supreme Court stated in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Group, 515 U.S. 557, 570 (1995), to receive First Amendment protection, a speaker does not have to generate, as an original matter, each item featured in the communication. For example, cable operators, even though they only broadcast material written, spoken, and produced by others, are still considered to be engaged in protected speech. Id. (citing Turner Broad. Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 512 U.S. 622, 636 (1994)). The same First Amendment protections exist for newspapers, which in their opinion pages simply collect and present the speech of others.Hurley, 515 U.S. at 570. We see no reason, nor have the defendants explained to this court, why a teacher's selection of a speaker for an in-class presentation is less a form of speech than a cable operator's decision as to which programs it chooses to present to its viewing audience. 42 To the extent that the district court relied on the argument that Cockrel's conduct was not speech because she had no advocative purpose when bringing industrial hemp enthusiasts to her class, this was also error. The Supreme Court has held that films, radio programs, and live entertainment are all protected by the First Amendment. Schad v. Borough of Mount Ephraim, 452 U.S. 61, 65 (1981). Moreover, to have constitutional protection, those who choose to show the film or stage the play need not show that they intended to convey a particularized message in doing so, nor that they approved or disapproved of its content, for such activities are inherently expressive and entitled to constitutional protection. Id. 43 The district court points to Judge Milburn's concurring opinion in Fowler v. Board of Education, 819 F.2d 657 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 986 (1987), in support of its argument that Cockrel's conduct should not be considered speech. In Fowler, a high school teacher, at the request of her students, showed them Pink Floyd--The Wall, an R-rated film containing nudity and a great deal of violence, on the last day of school while she completed grade cards. Id. at 658-59. The teacher was later terminated for showing the film. The teacher then brought suit, claiming that she was terminated in retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights. 44 Judge Milburn, writing only for himself on the issue of whether the conduct of showing the film to the class constituted protected speech, stated that, because the teacher had never seen the movie before and had no idea of its content, her decision to show the film could not be considered expressive or communicative in nature. Id. at 662-64. Thus, Judge Milburn concluded, the teacher's conduct in showing the film was not entitled to First Amendment protection. Id. 45 Judges Peck and Merritt disagreed with Judge Milburn's analysis of whether the teacher's showing of a film could be considered speech. Id. at 667, 669-70. Judge Peck, while concurring in the outcome of the case, stated that the expressive conduct cases used by Judge Milburn to analyze the teacher's showing of the film were inapposite. Id. at 667. Judge Merritt, noting that books, movies, and music that are purely for entertainment value still receive First Amendment protection, argued that the teacher's decision to show the film clearly was protected speech. Id. at 669-70. 46 While Judge Milburn's analysis in Fowler is not binding on this court, even if it were, the facts of this case are clearly distinguishable from Fowler. Unlike the teacher's showing of a film the content of which she knew nothing about, Cockrel's decision to bring in industrial hemp advocates did have an intent to convey a particularized message. Cockrel, who in her complaint states that [s]he was a teacher trainer in the state sponsored Kentucky Agriculture and Environment in the Classroom project from 1993 to 1997[,] worked at designing methods to integrate agricultural topics into her fifth-grade curriculum. J.A. at 9 (Compl.). She had, on at least three occasions before the Harrelson visit, brought in speakers who advocated the use of industrial hemp to conserve trees and other natural resources. Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Cockrel, we cannot state, as the district court did, that it was not until some point during or after the presentation [that] Plaintiff may have developed an approval or disapproval of the use of industrial hemp[.] J.A. at 36-37 (Dist. Ct. Mem. Op.). Instead, the evidence shows that Cockrel was well aware of the arguments for industrial hemp, and that this was a message she wanted delivered to her students. 47 Thus, while we believe that Cockrel had an advocative purpose in bringing in speakers who presented her students with information on the environmental benefits of industrial hemp, even if Cockrel did not have such a purpose when organizing these presentations, her decision to present these speakers to her class still constitutes speech. 48