[1] Kowalski sued the school district under the United States civil code,[2] claiming that her suspension was a retaliation for her speech and therefore a violation of her First Amendment rights.

Therefore it was "private out-of-school speech" that did not cause an in-school disruption of the type that officials could restrict per the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District precedent.

[1] The Fourth Circuit set to determine whether Kowalski's speech fell within the school’s legitimate interest in maintaining order and protecting the well-being and educational rights of its students.

The MySpace page functioned as a platform for students to direct verbal attacks, defamatory statements, and vulgar labels toward a classmate, and the court held that this was speech that public school officials are not required to tolerate.

[4] Kowalski's claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress by the school district was also rejected because under West Virginia law, there was no evidence that her safety was at risk.