In Re Nickolas S.

Summary

The Arizona Supreme Court held that Nickolas’s profane insults directed at his teacher did not constitute constitutionally unprotected fighting words because they were not likely to provoke an ordinary teacher to respond violently. The court therefore vacated the juvenile adjudications on both counts, while leaving unresolved the statute’s full scope and constitutionality. Justice Pelander, concurring, agreed with the narrow disposition but would have recognized that the classroom outburst was statutorily abusive and that Nickolas had no constitutional right to make it in the school setting.