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‘Boobies’ bracelet fight could go to Supreme Court

EASTON, Pa. — The court battle between two girls and their Pennsylvania school over ‘‘I (heart) Boobies!’’ bracelets could be settled by the US Supreme Court.

The Easton Area School District board voted 7-1 Tuesday night to appeal a federal appeals court’s decision that rejected its claim the bracelets are lewd and should be banned from school.

The case started in 2010 when two girls, then ages 12 and 13, challenged the school’s ban on the bracelets designed to promote breast cancer awareness among youths.

The students, Brianna Hawk and Kayla Martinez, said they merely hoped to promote awareness of the disease at their middle school. They filed suit when they were suspended for defying the ban on their school’s Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

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In August, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a lower court’s decision in favor of the girls, saying also that the district didn’t prove the bracelets are disruptive.

‘‘The Third Circuit Court has compromised administrators’ abilities to intervene in what is and what is not appropriate in school,’’ Superintendent John Reinhart told The Express-Times of Easton.

In court sessions, Reinhart had called the bracelets ‘‘cause-based marketing energized by sexual double-entendres.’’

Easton is one of several school districts around the country to ban the bracelets, which are distributed by the nonprofit Keep A Breast Foundation of Carlsbad, Calif.

Associated Press