Students' Rights Cases

In Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986), an important First
Amendment precedent, the Supreme Court said public school officials can
prohibit offensive student speech.

Burnside v. Byars (5th Cir. 1966) protected students’ First Amendment
rights on school grounds. The decision served as a key precedent for Tinker
v. Des Moines (1969).

Chandler v. McMinnville School District (9th Cir. 1992) decided that
restrictions on student speech should be evaluated in one of three
categories to determine constitutionality.

Dariano v. Morgan Hills U.S.D. (9th Cir. 2014) ruled that telling students
wearing American flag shirts remove them on Cinco de Mayo did not violate
the First Amendment.

Dean v. Utica Community Schools (E.D. Mich. 2004) said a high school
student newspaper was a limited public forum and rejected censorship of it
under the First Amendment.

Healy v. James (1972) dealt with student groups at public colleges. The
Court affirmed college students’ First Amendment rights of free speech and
association.

Hosty v. Carter (7th Cir. 2005) applied a high school press censorship case
to the colleges. First Amendment advocates fear the decision will lead to
student speech censorship.

In Keefe v. Adams (8th Cir., 2016), a circuit court ruled that a public
college could expel a nursing student for Facebook posts that indicated a
lack of professionalism.

In L.M. v. Middleborough, 605 U.S. ____ (2025), two U.S. Supreme Court justices dissented from a denial of certiorari in a case from a Massachusetts middle school that restricted student speech.Student speech at stake in t-shirt caseThe case arose after the petitioner, Liam Morrison, designed as L.M., wore a shirt to a public middle school

An Vermont Supreme Court decision demonstrates that courts early in
America’s history permitted fairly harsh discipline of students, even for
actions that took place off campus.

Norton v. Discipline Committee of East Tennessee State University (1970)
involved college students’ First Amendment rights to distribute
“inflammatory” pamphlets on campus.

Free speech and free expression more generally can sometimes be hurtful, but absent findings of libel, slander, true threats or incitement to imminent lawless action, most such speech is protected by the First Amendment.  Approximately 450 U.S. colleges and universities have, however, adopted bias response teams that have been challenged on the basis that they

Taylor v. Roswell Independent School District (10th Cir. 2013) rejected the
First Amendment claims of students prohibited from further distributing
rubber fetus dolls at school.

Thomas v. Board of Education, Granville (2d Cir. 1979) ruled that a school
violated the First Amendment rights when they punished students for
creating an off-campus newspaper.