You Be The Judge
Test your knowledge of the Five Freedoms and see how you match up to the courts...and fellow citizens.
Student Speech
In April 2004, a high school sophomore in San Diego protested his school’s support of a National Day of Silence by wearing a T-shirt with an anti-homosexual message on it. His T-shirt, on the front, read: “I will not accept what God has condemned.” On the back, it said, “Homosexuality is shameful. Romans 1:27.”
After being suspended, the student sued, claiming that the school’s silencing of his expression amounted to viewpoint discrimination because the school allowed expression of what the student considered the pro-gay viewpoints associated with the Day of Silence, which promotes tolerance of sexual orientation.
Can a public school prevent a student from wearing T-shirts with anti-gay messages?
Vote Now!
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32%A. NO
Students do not lose their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse door. Schools should not be allowed to censor a student’s Christian point of view, while at the same time permitting students to speak out in support of homosexual behavior.
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34%B. YES
The student’s speech could be prohibited because it “collides with the rights of other students” within the meaning of the major student-rights case, Tinker v. Des Moines (1969).
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34%C. YES, BUT
Students do not have the right to publicly criticize school policies. Such power for principals is essential to the preservation of order, decorum, and good government in public schools.
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Incorrect
This was the argument of the student’s lawyers. But in a 2-1 decision, the 9th Circuit disagreed. In a spirited dissent, judge Alex Kozinski wrote: “I have considerable difficulty with giving school authorities the power to decide that only one side of a controversial topic may be discussed in the school environment because the opposing point of view is too extreme or demeaning.”
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Correct!
Writing for the majority, judge Stephen Reinhardt argued that “it is surely not beyond the authority of local school boards to attempt to protect young minority students against verbal persecution, and the exercise of that authority by school boards is surely consistent with Tinker’s protection of the right of individual students ‘to be secure and to be let alone.’”
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Incorrect
This answer quotes language from a 1908 lower court opinion in favor of school officials. Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that students in public schools do have First Amendment rights – within certain limits.
Remember — US Supreme Court decisions outline "the law of the land." Lower court decisions do not. Sometimes, this means different lower courts will issue contradicting opinion.
DO YOU AGREE WITH THE COURT’S DECISION? WHY OR WHY NOT?
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WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE COURT'S DECISION?
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