Lawsuit of the Day: Second Circuit Gets That ‘Not So Fresh’ Feeling
Here’s an interesting factoid. According to a quick search we ran over at the Public Library of Law (powered by Fastcase), the word “douchebag” has yet to appear in the pages of F.3d. [FN1]
That may be about to change, if the Second Circuit decides to publish in a case that was just argued. From the AP:
A teen who used vulgar slang in an Internet blog to complain about school administrators shouldn’t have been punished by the school, her lawyer told a federal appeals court…. [Ed. note: an “Internet blog” — not to be confused with all those Non-Internet blogs.]Avery Doninger, 17, claims officials at Lewis S. Mills High School violated her free speech rights when they barred her from serving on the student council because of what she wrote from her home computer.
In her Internet journal, Doninger said officials were canceling the school’s annual Jamfest, which is similar to a battle of the bands contest. The event, which she helped coordinate, was rescheduled.
According to the lawsuit, she wrote: “‘Jamfest’ is canceled due to douchebags in central office,” and also referred to an administrator who was “pissed off.”
In the district court proceedings, there was some extensive discussion of the whole d-bag remark:
When [the school board’s lawyer] pressed [student council treasurer Pat] Abate on whether he had ever seen the famous douchebag posting, Abate’s responses included: “I haven’t seen it on my computer monitor, I haven’t seen it in my dreams.”
Guess he isn’t very imaginative.
[A lawyer] asked Abate and [senior class vice president Jackie] Evans to define douchebag.“Stupid, moron, idiot, Abate said.
“Jerks,” Evans said.
Hmm…. They’re in the vicinity, but haven’t hit the definitional g-spot. We respectfully submit that the term “douchebag” carries a stronger sense of condemnation than the terms proffered by Abate and Evans. See UrbanDictionary.com (defining “douchebag” as “[s]omeone who has surpassed the levels of jerk and a**hole, however not yet reached f**ker or motherf**ker”). [FN2]
[FN1] Maybe someone with free Westlaw or Lexis access can confirm for us that F.3d is douchebag-free.
[FN2] Alternate definition of “douchebag” from Urban Dictionary: “A student or instructor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.” Well, as long as it’s not the law school….
Update: Thanks, commenters — F.3d is certifiably douchebag-free.
Further Update: Oh wait… As this commenter notes, if you expand the search to include “douche bag” and “douche-bag,” you’ll see that F.3d has been thoroughly defiled.
Appeals Court Weighs Teen’s Web Speech [AP]
Defense Crumbles as Students Weather Cross-Examination [CT News Junkie]
douchebag [Urban Dictionary]
douche commercial [YouTube]
(23) Comments
Comments
Comments hidden for your protection. Show them anyway!
I am First after all.
Now whether I am the first douchebag is up for debate, LOL.
To confirm, "douchebag" is used once in another case at 890 F. Supp. 382, 386, but it is not yet in F.3d.
Searching for douchebag on Westlaw, ALLFED brought up two results, one of which is this case (514 F.Supp.2d 199), the other of which is 890 F.Supp. 382
Don't forget "douche bag" .....
- 174 F.3d 95 (Atlantic City cops' testimony)
- 119 F.3d 563 (douche bag cunt)
433 F.Supp.2d 523, Dimeo v. Max (yes, Tucker Max) ("[one message board poster] wrote, for example, 'What a douche-bag! This guy sounds like the type of pompous, pretentious jackass that I take great pleasure in giving reality checks to...)
... and many more... if you expand the search to "douche bag" or "douche-bag"
This was a great post.
Lat, please do a follow up speculating on what we can conclude form the fact that douchebag has been twice cited in F. Supp., but not in later volumes, or the F. volumes. That district courts are infinitely more hip? That the word fell out of favor but is once again in? (I do seem to recall it being a highschool term, which I didn't again hear until law school . . . but law school was generally a regression to high school, so prolly an irrelevant aside.)
Hello? Did you not read me at 11:10? The term "douche bag" is in 174 F.3d 95; and 119 F.3d 563.
- 11:10
wtf man?
i don't want to read about that shit after a hard day's work
Nice post lat - this made me laugh - not get angry and critical about firm x or law school y.
Click on the graphic.
Thoughtful touch, Lat. Thanks.
Oh right, it's always best to hyphenate words like website or douchebag when searching on Westlaw
Just "douche" shows up 260 times if you expand the search to state cases....
A Tucker Max reference?!? Awesome. A true role model for junior lawyers everywhere.
Avery is a girl
And Abate is an adult
"douche bag" definition: an NYU grad
According to the court calendar, the panel was all-female: Sotomayor, Livingston, C.JJ, Preska, D.J.
Lat -
I expect better from you:
The question is whether F.3d is "douchebag"-free, NOT whether it is douchebag-free. The first version asks whether the term appears in F.3d; the second asks if there are actual douchebags somehow squeezed into the pages of F.3d.
Lat: is your second update telling us that you suffer from um . . . premature certification? If so, I am very sorry to hear that.
Avery is a boy's name; not a girl's name. What's up with these damn names these days? McKenzie? That's a Scottish last name! Dakota? That's a state! Stick to the Bible, Greek mythology or Germanic names, and also pay attention to the gender.
Funny post. But:
"They're in the vicinity, but haven't hit the definitional g-spot."
I wouldn't take advice from Lat about finding the G-spot.
What happened to free speech? Starting to look like we live in the "land of the [free]censored , home of the [brave]offended "!
I would like to note that of the 13 hits returned under the allfeds search for douchebag, douche bag, or douche-bag, two of the cases originated in Atlantic City. One against the police department ("women were commonly referred to as 'cunts,' 'douche bags,' 'broads,' 'bitches,' and, as a group, 'the crack troop.'") and the other against the Convention Center Authority ("[r]epeated use of the words 'cunt' and 'douche-bag-cunt' to describe and refer to the female electricians"). While the second case was not reported in F.Supp, the term "douche bag cunt" does appear once in F.3d.