Martin Noah was expelled from Tripoli senior high school in May of his senior year after he and a friend wore black trench coats to school on the morning of April 22, 1999-two days after the Columbine high school shootings. Wearing the coats to school was not the sole reason for his expulsion.

It was the culminating reason. During study hall the previous month, the study hall monitor asked him to give up a "tool" that Marty was using like brass knuckles, and acting as if he was about to strike another student. After Marty reluctantly surrendered the tool to the monitor he stated: "Next time I'll bring a gun, then we'll see what you can do!" The monitor reported the "threat" to the principal. Marty told the principal that he was only "joking". The principal warned Marty that those kinds of "jokes" could no longer be tolerated in school because of the fear of violence. Marty was told that any future incidents would be cause for his removal.

There were no other incidents until after Columbine. During the two days following the shootings, Marty was heard by classmates and teachers discussing how to make explosives and that it would be cool to "blow some teachers away". Again his defense was that he "was just joking".

The Hearing panel and the Administrative Law Judge found that Marty's conduct was properly punished under the board policies that prohibit conduct that cause a "material & substantial disruption to the school environment" because "threats" are not protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

That the decision of the Tripoli Community School District Board of Directors made on May 5, 1999, to expel Martin Noah for the remainder of the second semester and to set conditions for his re-admission for the first semester of the 1999-2000 school year, was affirmed.