The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of a lower
court’s ruling that shooting spitwads at school is “violent criminal
conduct.”
The Rutherford Institute has battled the case on behalf of Andrew Mikel II, a student at Spotsylvania High School in Spotsylvania, Pa.
“That the Supreme Court refused to hear Andrew’s case is a tragedy in
itself, but by failing to intervene, the court is legitimizing the
perverse use of zero tolerance policies by school districts and the
criminalization of America’s schoolchildren by teachers, administrators
and police,” said Rutherford Institute President John W. Whitehead.
The decision not to visit the dispute came this week as the high court prepared to conclude its 2011-2012 session.
“There can be no justice in a nation where young people like Andrew
Mikel have their futures senselessly derailed by school administrators
lacking in both common sense and compassion,” Whitehead said.
The case developed when Mikel was 14. In December 2010, as a freshman
at the school, he was expelled for the remainder of the year after
being accused of shooting spitwads at classmates.
