Court: 'Boobies' Bracelets Are Not Lewd

A U.S. appeals court ruled Monday that "I (heart) Boobies!" bracelets cannot be banned in schools.

Several Pennsylvania school districts banned the breast cancer awareness bracelets claiming they were disruptive and lewd. Teenagers Brianna Hawk and Kayla Martinez challenged the ban after for violating the ban on their school's Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

In a 9-5 decision the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared, that "the bracelets here are not plainly lewd and because they comment on a social issue, they may not be categorically banned."

American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Mary Catherine Roper explained why this ruling is significant.

"It explicitly says school children talk about important things, and when they (do) ... that's the kind of speech we want to protect and promote."

District Counsel John Freund disagreed, arguing on the school's behalf that "Middle school is a witch's brew of hormones and curiosity" and claiming the bracelets were "cause-based marketing energized by sexual double-entendres."

Wow.

Thankfully, enough judges did not agree. Judge Dolores Sloviter told the packed courtroom "she did not see the slogan as sexual and that she had once lost a colleague on the court to breast cancer."