SUPREME COURT | Mon May 15, 2017 | 10:03am EDT

U.S. Supreme Court rejects case involving burping teen

By Andrew Chung

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a civil rights lawsuit against a New Mexico police officer for arresting a 13-year-old boy who burped repeatedly and disrupted his class, a case that raised questions about police conduct in school settings.

The justices refused to hear an appeal by the boy's mother of a lower court's ruling in favor of Albuquerque officer Arthur Acosta that granted him qualified immunity, a legal defense that protects certain public officials from suits as long as they did not violate a clearly established law or constitutional right.

Justice Neil Gorsuch did not take part in considering whether to take up the case. Before joining the Supreme Court in April, Gorsuch was part of the three-judge federal appeals court panel in Colorado that previously ruled 2-1 in favor of Acosta. Gorsuch was the dissenter in that ruling, saying the boy should not have been arrested for intentionally belching.

The legal dispute began in 2011 when the seventh grade student at Cleveland Middle School in Albuquerque, called F.M. in court papers, burped continuously during his physical education class while his fellow students encouraged him.

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