(05-02) 17:12 PDT WASHINGTON -- A Texas high school cheerleader who was kicked off the squad for refusing to chant the name of a basketball player - the same athlete she said had raped her four months earlier - lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal Monday. 
 
 A federal appeals court ruled in September that the cheerleader was speaking for the school, not herself, and had no right to remain silent when called on to cheer the athlete by name. 
 
 The Supreme Court denied review of the case Monday without comment. 
 
 The girl, identified by her initials H.S., was 16 when she said she was raped at a party in her southeast Texas hometown of Silsbee in October 2008. She identified the assailant as Rakheem Bolton, a star on the Silsbee High School football team. 
 
 Bolton ultimately pleaded guilty in September 2010 to a misdemeanor assault charge and received a suspended sentence. 
 
 At a February 2009 basketball game in Huntsville, Texas, H.S. joined in leading cheers for the Silsbee team, which included Bolton. But when Bolton went to the foul line to shoot a free throw, H.S. folded her arms and was silent. 
 
 H.S. said the district superintendent, his assistant and the school principal told her she had to cheer for Bolton or go home. She refused and was dismissed from the squad. 
 
 H.S., joined by her parents, sued school officials and the district. They claimed the school had punished her for exercising her right of free expression. 
 
 An appeals court in New Orleans ruled against her, saying a cheerleader acts as a "mouthpiece" for the school. 
 
 Federal courts have also ordered H.S. and her parents to reimburse the district more than $45,000 for the costs of defending against a frivolous suit. 
 
 The family's lawyer, Laurence Watts, said the ruling means students who try to exercise their right of free speech can be punished for refusing to follow "insensitive and unreasonable directions." 
 
 This article appeared on page AA - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle ||||| As one of her school's basketball stars approached the free-throw line to hit a shot during a 2009 playoff game, a cheerleader stepped away from her squad, folded her arms and stood in silence, refusing to root for the athlete she says raped her at a party in this Texas town. 
 
 Now, two years later, her silent protest is drawing new attention as the result of an unusual series of events: Suspended as a cheerleader but later reinstated, the 16-year-old and her family sued over her punishment, lost and ended up with $40,000 in penalties from the legal proceedings. Meanwhile, the basketball player settled the criminal case against him by pleading guilty to reduced charges. 
 
 An online campaign to help the former cheerleader's family with the legal costs has gained momentum on Facebook and Twitter and collected more than $23,000. The family also has appealed in federal court the judge's order for them to pay the school district's legal costs after their lawsuit was dismissed. 
 
 "It's really an awful statement to send on how you treat a teenage sexual assault victim," said Alex DiBranco, whose petition on Change.org has gathered more than 94,000 signatures asking the school district to not to make the family pay the fees. DiBranco, a New York-based women's rights advocate, got involved after reading about the case. 
 
 The controversy is renewing debate about how the school and courts handled a sensitive matter involving teenagers, sexual assault and allegations made but not yet proven. 
 
 Silsbee Mayor Herbert Muckleroy, a former school superintendent in the town of 7,000, said he thinks the criminal case was handled appropriately but has doubts about making the girl's family pay the school district $40,000. "I just wish it could have been settled and over with and let the community settle back in," he said. 
 
 The father of the girl, who is now 19, said he cannot accept that a rape victim and her family are being punished. 
 
 "I will never give up hope that in some form or fashion there will be justice, (and) hope that our story will help another family, another girl that's been through this," said Craig S., 44, whose last name is being withheld to protect his daughter's identity. The Associated Press does not identify sexual assault victims. 
 
 The girl claimed she was pulled into a darkened room with basketball player Rakheem Bolton and several others during an October 2008 party and raped under a pool table while she was drunk. Bolton and two others were arrested after the party. A grand jury declined to indict him in January 2009. A second grand jury indicted him 10 months later. Bolton eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser assault charge in a plea deal and received a suspended one-year sentence. Charges were dropped against the two others indicted in the incident. 
 
 The girl, who was suspended from the cheerleading squad but reinstated two weeks later, filed a federal lawsuit in May 2009, claiming the school district violated her First Amendment free speech rights as well as her rights to liberty, property and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. 
 
 In court documents, school officials said they were justified in punishing her because Bolton was not facing any charges during the playoff game. Her conduct violated school rules and her allegations appeared to be "the story of a girl who became angry with a boy about something that may or may not have happened at a private party," the schools' attorneys said. 
 
 Silsbee school district officials and their attorney have declined further comment on the case. 
 
 U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield in Beaumont ruled the girl's lawsuit was "without foundation." 
 
 "There are no facts to support a finding that the school, or its officials, owed her any additional process," Heartfield wrote, and ordered the family to pay the district's legal costs. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in May declined to review it, leaving the legal fees the only issue pending. 
 
 The girl's father acknowledged that his daughter did not object to Bolton's plea deal. He said she wanted some admission of guilt from him. 
 
 David Barlow, the special prosecutor who handled the case, said, "This was the best outcome that could have resulted, given the law and the facts." 
 
 Bolton's grandmother, who declined to give her name, said her grandson is now in college and just wants to be left alone. The former cheerleader, who graduated from high school last year, also declined to be interviewed, her father said. 
 
 The school district remains unwilling to give the girl's family a break on the payment. "I think the district has a fiduciary responsibility and obligation to the taxpayers to try to collect on any money that is due them," school board President John Griffin said. 
 
 But news on the case reached sympathetic ears in others parts of America. After reading about it, Jessica Mills, an actress and writer in Los Angeles, started an online fundraising campaign to help pay the costs. 
 
 "I just thought this girl, she's been through so much already, regardless of the right and wrongs and legalities of it," said Mills, who with her friend set up the "Help the Cheerleader" web site, which lets people donate money to a bank account set up by the cheerleader's attorney. 
 
 The girl's father said he is humbled by the rising balance, mostly from donations of less than $20. He runs a landscaping business and said paying the money would be a financial hardship. He said his daughter has had her ups and downs. After graduating in 2010, she took a year off and plans to attend Lamar University in Beaumont in the fall. 
 
 Around Silsbee, the incident continues to produce mixed feelings. Resident Terrell McArthur said he agrees with the girl's decision not to cheer for the person she believed raped her. However, the costs are a separate matter. 
 
 "It went through the judicial process," McArthur said. "I don't feel like anybody here in Silsbee needs to start taking up donations."
– A cheerleader in Texas who folded her hands rather than root for the player she accused of rape has lost her bid to have the Supreme Court hear her case, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The girl sued the school after it kicked her off the cheerleading squad over her protest, but a federal appellate court ruled in the school's favor. The Supreme Court yesterday refused to consider the case. The girl accused a star player on the school team of raping her at a party in 2008, and he subsequently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and got a suspended sentence. When the girl refused to root for him during a 2009 game, the school told her to cheer or go home; she did neither, and was booted from the squad. The appellate court ruled in favor of the school because as a cheerleader, she served as a "mouthpiece for the school," notes Education Week. It also ordered her family to pay $45,000 to cover the school's legal fees.