Supreme Court Declines to Hear Appeal on Student Paper Ads

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal of a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the right of Virginia's alcohol regulatory board to ban alcohol-related advertisements in student newspapers. The appeals court reversed a lower court's ruling, and its decision conflicts with one from a different appeals court, which in 2004 found a similar ban in Pennsylvania to be in violation of the First Amendment. Student newspapers have opposed such bans both on First Amendment grounds and for practical reasons (alcohol ads are a good revenue source for many publications).