Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
E. D., a Minor, By Her Parent and Next Friend, Lisa Duell, et al. v. Noblesville School District, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 24-1608 · judgment August 14, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Noblesville High School freshman E.D. worked hard to bring Noblesville Students for Life (NSFL) and its life-affirming message to her school. She took a summer job to fund its launch, secured an adviser, and met with her principal. At least initially, the principal approved NSFL as one of the school’s many student-interest clubs, which are “student-driven and student-led,” and not school-sponsored. App.29a–30a. These noncurricular clubs could hang flyers in school common areas to promote non-school meetings and events; no written policy governed the flyers’ content. Yet when E.D. asked for permission to post flyers advertising the first NSFL meeting, the school said no because the flyers contained a picture of students holding “Defund Planned Parenthood” signs. The school then revoked NSFL’s recognition. The Seventh Circuit upheld the school’s censorship under Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988), on the theory that a “reasonable observer could easily conclude that the flyers reflected the school’s endorsement.” App.13a. In so doing, it exacerbated a deep, longstanding circuit split over when Hazelwood’s reduced speech protection applies. The question presented is: Whether Hazelwood applies (1) whenever student speech might be erroneously attributed to the school, as the Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits have held; (2) when student speech occurs in the context of an “organized and structured educational activity,” as the Third Circuit has held; or (3) only when student speech is part of the “curriculum,” as the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits have held.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
John J. Bursch
Alliance Defending Freedom
For respondent
Liberty Lee Roberts
Church Church Hitle + Antrim
Argument & decision
Decided June 15, 2026.
Proceedings
- Jun 15 2026Petition DENIED. Justice Alito, dissenting from denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
- Jun 08 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/11/2026.
- Jun 01 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/4/2026.
- May 26 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/28/2026.
- May 18 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/21/2026.
- May 11 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/14/2026.
- Apr 27 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/1/2026.
- Apr 20 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/24/2026.
- Apr 13 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/17/2026.
- Apr 13 2026Letter of April 13, 2026 with notice of supplemental authority from counsel for petitioners filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 08 2026Supplemental Authority Letter of E.D., et al. not accepted for filing. (April 10, 2026)
- Mar 31 2026Rescheduled.
- Mar 17 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/2/2026.
- Mar 16 2026Reply of petitioners E. D., a Minor, By Her Parent and Next Friend, Lisa Duell, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Mar 04 2026Brief amicus curiae of Turning Point USA filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amicus curiae of American Center for Law and Justice filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amicus curiae of First Liberty Institute filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amici curiae of Students for Life of America, et al. filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amicus curiae of Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amici curiae of Life Legal Defense Foundation, et al. filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amici curiae of Kansas, et al. filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amici curiae of Foundation for Moral Law filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amicus curiae of Christian Legal Society filed.
- Mar 04 2026Brief amici curiae of The Family Foundation, et al. filed.
- Mar 03 2026Brief amicus curiae of NC Values Institute filed.
- Feb 27 2026Brief of respondents Noblesville School District, et al. in opposition filed.
- Feb 23 2026Brief amicus curiae of Americans For Prosperity Foundation filed.
- Jan 28 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 4, 2026)
- Dec 18 2025Application (25A704) granted by Justice Barrett extending the time to file until January 28, 2026.
- Dec 15 2025Application (25A704) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 28, 2025 to January 28, 2026, submitted to Justice Barrett.