A hearing was held Tuesday in federal court regarding the fate of a lawsuit filed on behalf of an 11-year-old middle school student from Detroit, Texas, accused of accessing pornographic material on the Internet.

The case, which first centered around a conflict between the Detroit Independent School District and the girl’s parents regarding whether she should be punished, now involves a question of civil rights and the future of the student’s disciplinary record.

The girl’s attorney, David Carter of the Texarkana firm Mercy, Carter & Tidwell, argued before Judge David F...