Missouri Facebook Law Unconstitutional

On August 3, I posted about a new Missouri law that would have prohibited teachers from becoming Facebook friends with current or former students. This is what I said in that post: “I get the need to protect students and I get the idea that maybe teachers should use some judgment about “friending” students. But I am a little concerned that the bill is so sweeping, especially given that it applies to contacts between teachers and former students.” Apparently, a Missouri judge agrees with me. Last week, the Cole County Circuit Court enjoined the enactment of the bill. In doing so, the court noted: “Even if a complete ban on certain forms of communication between certain individuals could be construed as content neutral and only a reasonable restriction on ‘time, place and manner,’ the breadth of the prohibition is staggering.” For some reason, the court did not cite to my blog in its opinion.