Bullying, a pattern of physical or emotional abuse that students intentionally inflict on their peers, exists throughout secondary education, but is most prevalent during the middle grades. To inform the practice of middle level educators, this study canvassed school anti-bullying laws in each state and compared them with relevant research literature on school bullying. A comprehensive search of the Westlaw database revealed that 43 states have laws that address bullying in the schools, with many of them enacted or amended in recent years. These laws vary widely in their scope and rigor, with most of them failing to incorporate the recommendations in the professional literature. School personnel, particularly but not at all exclusively at the middle level, need to be legally literate about the particular provision in their state laws. Knowing about the laws in other states and evidence-based professional norms enables educators to take an informed leadership role in both policymaking at the state level and ethical practice at the local level. (Contains 2 figures.)