Winning Election Candidate Disqualified Based on Campaign Violations

Every once in a while, these sorts of stories crop up overseas (in the UK, for example, or Thailand): a winning candidate is barred from office based on campaign statements.  Now, it’s hit American shores: the winner of the race for Student Union president at Stuyvesant High School in New York has been disqualified by the student-run school Board of Elections, for disparaging his opponent during the campaign.

Stuyvesant High School is a public institution (which apparently counts among its alumni Eric Holder, David Axelrod, and Dick Morris).  Even given the more permissive line of cases regulating student speech in the school environment, I have no idea how this comports with the First Amendment.

(h/t William McGeveran)

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