Public schools don't have free rein to ban speech that isn't necessarily offensive, especially if that speech pertains to a social or political issue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled in a tellingly split en banc opinion.

The case was brought by two Easton, Pa., middle school students who were suspended after wearing breast-cancer awareness bracelets that said "I ♥ boobies." They were represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union.