Their Stories

2015 ◽  
pp. 123-207
Keyword(s):  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Lower Court ◽  
Student Speech ◽  
School Officials ◽  
Students First ◽  
The Right

This chapter examines the stories of students who have been censored by their schools for exercising their right to free speech off-campus in an offline forum. It discusses offline off-campus student speech in three categories: (a) speech directed at or against school officials or the school; (b) speech directed at or against students; and (c) speech directed at or against persons who are unaffiliated with the school. The chapter per the authors examines the court decisions regarding students' First Amendment rights to free speech under each of these categories. The goal of the chapter is to analyze the various lower court decisions governing the right of students to speak off-campus when they are not using online media. This chapter will highlight the unsettled nature of students' right to free speech in an off-campus offline setting.

Their Stories

2015 ◽  
pp. 208-302
Keyword(s):  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Online Forum ◽  
Student Speech ◽  
School Officials ◽  
Students First ◽  
Online Setting ◽  
Free Speech Rights

This chapter presents the stories of students censored by their schools for speaking in an off-campus online forum. It discusses online off-campus student speech in two categories: (a) speech directed at or against school officials or the school; and (b) speech directed at or against students. The chapter examines and analyzes the various legal precedents governing students' First Amendment speech rights under each of these categories. The analysis highlights the lack of clarity and the unsettled nature of the jurisprudence governing students' free speech rights in an off-campus online setting.

Forging the Path Forward from Censorship

2015 ◽  
pp. 590-605
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Constitution ◽  
Student Speech ◽  
School Officials ◽  
The Future ◽  
Lower Courts ◽  
The Right

This chapter presents the conclusions to the book. It discusses ideas for the future of the off-campus student-speech jurisprudence. This discussion includes guidance for school officials and students on how to navigate the jurisprudence. The discussion urges school officials to exercise censorship restraint when confronted with off-campus student speech unless the speech constitutes a true threat. It also implores school officials and lower courts to treat students as citizens entitled to the right to free speech under the United States Constitution. Consonantly, the chapter recommends that school officials leave censorship of off-campus speech to law enforcement as well as the civil and criminal judicial processes as obtains for the citizenry at large. The goal of the chapter is to recommend ideas that students, school officials and lower courts can consider in order to minimize the abridgement of students' right to speech in off-campus settings.

Background

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Keyword(s):  
Free Speech ◽  
Student Behavior ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Lower Court ◽  
The Right ◽  
Speech Clause

This chapter provides some background on the existing uncertainty in the student free speech jurisprudence. It reveals the origins of the “schoolhouse gate” phrase that is a staple of the student free speech jurisprudence. It examines the case law on schools' power over student behavior while they are off-campus. This power over conduct was a forerunner to power over speech. Power over speech, however, implicates the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause guarantee of the right to free speech. The chapter underscores the presence of uncertainty in the courts as to whether the free speech guarantee covers students while they are off-campus. The goal of the chapter is to provide context for the others chapters in the book by highlighting the uncertainty evident in the lower court decisions on students' off-campus speech.

Eighty Years of Students’ Free Speech in Public Schools

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine L. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Student Speech ◽  
The Past ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions ◽  
Special Rules

Free speech is the cornerstone of our democracy, and it is also a right that students exercise in public schools. Students’ rights have not always been as robust they are today, though. In fact, over the past century, the way in which we conceptualize students’ rights has changed dramatically. This chapter traces the development of the law in this area, analyzing the handful of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have established the special rules for deciding school speech cases and engaging the principles that have animated these decisions. The chapter also presents one way of understanding how these cases fit together, underscores questions about the current coherence of the doctrine, and engages the related—and increasingly important—issue of qualified immunity. Student speech cases are among the most commonly litigated issues under the First Amendment, and for many reasons, controversies about free speech present difficult questions.

Acceptable Use Policies

2015 ◽  
pp. 352-358
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Critical State ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
School Officials ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Students First ◽  
Acceptable Use Policies

This chapter examines critical state and federal requirements for the development of acceptable use policies. It also reviews the role of acceptable use policies in shaping the approach of schools toward student off-campus speech. It highlights components that should be included in acceptable use policies. It also reveals that school districts are increasingly adopting responsible use policies in order to address the student use of personal electronic devices. Acceptable use policies and responsible use policies are viable avenues for school officials to minimize violations of students' First Amendment right to free speech since they are designed to inform and seek student as well as parent consent regarding use of technology-based devices at the school.

Where to limit the freedom of speech? Analysis in the context of the First Amendment to the US Constitution and the fighting words doctrine

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-256
Author(s):  
Karolina Palka
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Constitution ◽  
Socialist Party Of America ◽  
The Right

This article is about the limits of the right to free speech. The first section provides a brief introduction to this topic, primarily in the context of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The second section describes the case of Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, which was fundamental to the topic of this paper because the United States Supreme Court created the so-called "fighting words" doctrine based on it. In the next two sections, two court cases are presented that perfectly demonstrate the limits of the right to free speech in the United States: Snyder v. Phelps and Village of Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America. The fifth part shows the right to freedom of speech in the context of Polish civil, criminal, and constitutional law, as well as acts of international law binding on Poland. The last part is a short summary.

Heckler’s Veto

2020 ◽  
pp. 220-232
Author(s):  
Rodney A. Smolla
Keyword(s):  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Legal Counsel ◽  
City Manager ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

This chapter draws attention to Craig Brown and Lisa Robertson, who were the principal in-house lawyers providing legal counsel to the city manager and council of Charlottesville. It investigates Brown and Robertson's view that any attempt at outright cancellation of the Unite the Right rally would be immediately overturned by courts as a violation of the First Amendment. It also explains “heckler's veto” as a free speech jurisprudence that raises the rhetoric of defiance and confrontation that could help counterprotesters to shut down the rally. The chapter discusses the First Amendment in modern times that generally stands against acceding to the power of heckling counterprotesters in order to cease messages with which they disagree. It clarifies that when hecklers and protesters gather to express their disagreement with a speaker's message, the rights of that speaker are in tension.

Advocacy of Illegal Drug Use

2015 ◽  
pp. 108-121
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
Illegal Drug ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Student Speech ◽  
Illegal Drug Use ◽  
Speech Clause

This chapter examines the Morse v. Frederick (2007) case – the most recent United States Supreme Court decision about students' right to free speech under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. It discusses the test created in the case for determining the extent of school-censorship authority over student speech. This test, known as the Morse test, allows schools to censor student speech if the speech advocates illegal drug use. The ultimate goal of the chapter is to analyze the Morse v. Frederick case in order to determine if it gives schools any authority to censor students' off-campus speech.

School-Sponsored Speech

2015 ◽  
pp. 97-107
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Student Speech ◽  
Speech Clause

This chapter examines the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988) case – the United States Supreme Court's third review of students' speech rights under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. It discusses the test created in the case for analyzing when schools can regulate students' speech. This test, referred to as the Hazelwood test (also known as the Kuhlmeier test) authorizes schools to censor school-sponsored student speech. The chapter discusses the Supreme Court's approach to student speech in the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988) case. The ultimate goal of the chapter is to analyze the case in order to determine if it authorizes schools to censor students' speech while they are outside the schoolhouse gate.

Lewd, Vulgar, Plainly-Offensive, and Obscene Speech

2015 ◽  
pp. 84-96
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
School District ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Student Speech ◽  
Free Speech Rights ◽  
Speech Clause

This chapter focuses on the Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986) case – the United States Supreme Court's second review of students' speech rights under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. It discusses the test created in the case for determining when schools can regulate students' speech. This test, referred to as the Bethel test or the Fraser test authorizes schools to censor students' speech if the speech is vulgar, lewd, plainly offensive or obscene. The chapter also discusses the Supreme Court's decision on the scope of students' free speech rights. The ultimate goal of the chapter is to analyze the Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser case in order to determine if it empowers schools to censor off-campus student speech.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document