Moot

In Lane v. Simon, No. 50-3266 & 05-3284, the editors of the Kansas State Collegian filed lawsuit alleging a violation of their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendment (and state law violations) arising out of the removal of the newspaper’s faculty advisor. The Tenth Circuit held, citing Bauchman v, West High Sch., 132, F.3d 542 (10^th Cir. 1997), that the case became moot when the plaintiffs graduated from college as the school could no longer impinge upon their rights. As the plaintiffs had not sued in a representative capacity and neither the paper nor the current editors had sought to join in the suit or be substituted as plaintiffs, the court held that there was no live controversy. (In this context, it is worth noting that today’s web version of the Collegian has no mention of the decision). Notably, the court rejected the argument of a host (well, nine) amici, who argued that the plaintiffs should be given third party standing on behalf of current and former editors.