VOA慢速英语2021 美国最高法院就一起学生言论自由案件作出裁决

The U.S. Supreme¹ Court ruled Wednesday that a high school violated a student's free speech rights by punishing her for a social media post.

美国最高法院周二裁定，一所高中因为学生在社交媒体上发帖而对其进行惩罚，这侵犯了她的言论自由权。

By a vote of 8-1, the nation's highest court ruled in favor of Brandi Levy² over Mahanoy Area School District in the state of Pennsylvania.

美国最高法院以8：1的票数裁定布兰迪·利维胜诉，宾夕法尼亚州马哈诺伊地区校区败诉。

In 2017, Levy was upset that she did not make the top cheerleading team at the area's high school. She was selected for the second-best team.

2017年，利维为自己未能进入这所地区高中的啦啦队一队而感到诅丧。她被选中进入二队。

Levy, who was 14 at the time, then posted on Snapchat an image of herself raising a middle finger, an offensive sign, and using bad language to criticize the school and the team. The action took place outside of school hours and away from the school grounds.

当时14岁的利维在Snapchat上发布了一张她竖起中指的照片，这是一个冒犯性手势，并使用粗俗语言批评了学校和啦啦队。这一举动发生在课后并且远离校园。

The Snapchat messages could only be seen for a short time. But the post was captured and shared with parents and school officials. Some students approached school officials about the post and were "visibly upset."

这条Snapchat消息只能在很短一段时间内被看到。但是这个帖子被截屏并分享给家长和学校官员。一些学生就此帖子跟学校官员交涉，并“明显感到诅丧。”

School officials punished Levy by banning her from cheerleading for one year. They decided³ that her offensive action was related to cheerleading, a school activity, and disruptive.

学校官员决定禁止利维一年内参加啦啦队作为惩罚。他们认为她的冒犯行为跟学校的啦啦队有关，并且具有破坏性。

Levy and her parents took their case against the school to court. A lower court judge ordered the school to let her back onto the team. But the school appealed the decision to a federal court in Pennsylvania and then the Supreme Court.

利维及其父母将学校告上法庭。一家下级法院命令学校让她回到啦啦队。但是该学校就此裁决向宾夕法尼亚州联邦法院，以及随后向最高法院提出了上诉。

The school argued that it was permitted to punish Levy based on a 1969 Supreme Court ruling. The ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines protected students' rights to protest the Vietnam War. But the court also said students could be punished for disruptive speech.

学校辩称，根据1969年最高法院的一项裁决，惩罚利维是法律允许的。这起廷克诉得梅因案的裁决保护了学生抗议越战的权力。但是法院也表示，学生发表破坏性言论就会受到惩罚。

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the opinion for the majority. Some might think Levy's words were not worthy⁴ of the First Amendment⁵ protection of free speech rights, Breyer noted⁶. "But sometimes it is necessary to protect the superfluous⁷ in order to preserve the necessary," he added.

斯蒂芬·布雷耶大法官为多数派撰写了意见。布雷耶指出，有人可能认为利维的言论不值得动用第一修正案对言论自由权利的保护。他还表示：“但是有时候必须保护这些不必要的，以便维护那些必要的。”

A lower court had ruled that schools have no authority over a student's speech when it happens away from school grounds. But the Supreme Court's ruling is more limited.

一家下级法院曾裁定，当学生的言论发生在校园以外时，学校就无权干涉学生的言论。但是最高法院的裁决更有局限性。

Breyer wrote that the school's interests "remain significant in some off-campus circumstances." He added, however, "When it comes to political or religious speech that occurs outside school or a school program or activity, the school will have a heavy burden to justify⁸ intervention⁹."

布雷耶写道，学校的利益“在某些校外情况下仍然很重要。”然而他还表示：“当遇到发生在学校以外或是学校课程或活动中的政治或宗教言论时，学校有责任证明干预是合理的。”

Levy said she was glad the Supreme Court agreed that her school went too far.

利维表示，她很高兴最高法院认同她的学校管得太宽。

Now, an 18-year-old college student, she told Reuters, "I never could have imagined that one simple snap would turn into a Supreme Court case, but I'm proud that my family and I advocated for the rights of millions of public school students."

现在作为一名18岁的大学生，利维对路透社表示：“我从未想过一张简单的图片会演变成为最高法院的一起案件，但是我很自豪，我和我的家人为数百万公立学校的学生倡导了权利。”

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

5 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 superfluous   

adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的

参考例句：

• She fined away superfluous matter in the design. 她删去了这图案中多余的东西。
• That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。

8 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

9 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。