(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. The cheerleader and her parents had sued the Silsbee Independent School District near Beaumont, Texas, on grounds that officials violated her right to equal protection and her free-speech right not to cheer in symbolic protest. The case drew headlines after the cheerleader, identified in court papers as H.S., alleged that she was sexually assaulted at a 2008 party by the basketball player and two other young men. When the player went to the free-throw line during a 2009 game, H.S. According to court papers filed by the school district, the cheerleader's refusal caused a disruption in the stands, and officials told her she had to participate in the cheers or else go home. Federal courts have also ordered H.S. In a unanimous ruling last September, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, affirmed the dismissal. The family's Supreme Court appeal in Doe v. Silsbee Independent School District (Case No.
– 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.