Freedom of speech protection is guaranteed by the First Amendment. However, there always seems to be tests that come along and challenge the boundaries of this guarantee and to what degree in which they are protected. The case I will use for this paper is “considered the seminal opinion in this area of constitutional law” by University of San Diego School of Law Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues and referred to as a “landmark case” by Thomas L. Tedford and Dale A. Herbeck. The case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District 393 U.S. 503 (1969) is a case in which Three public school students; John Tinker, Christopher Eckhardt and Mary Beth Tinker wore black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War. The school board
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Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988). In a Hazelwood East High School newspaper, a group of students were given their first chance to explore journalism. Along with that privilege granted to explore and create journalistic content, the students are also allowed to edit their own paper. However, in the late spring of 1983, the school principal reviewed the upcoming final draft of the student paper. The principal found two out of the many articles submitted to be unacceptable and ordered the students not publish any of their content from the two “problematic” articles. In regard to the objected content, one story was about teen pregnancy, the other was about divorce. One of the students that wrote one of the articles, Cathy Kuhlmeier, and two other Hazelwood East students filed a lawsuit against the school district. In a 5-3 decision by the Supreme Court, the majority opinion stated schools have the right to reject school sponsored content that is "inconsistent with the shared values of a civilized social order.” The Supreme Court went on to claim, “Educators did not offend the First Amendment by exercising editorial control over the content of student speech so long as their actions were reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns." As part of me does agree with this ruling due to the fact it is sponsored by the school. However, another part of me thinks that these are important and relevant issues that the students wrote about and should have been able to publish their work. In support of my latter opinion, I feel this sets a dangerous precedent that could lead to censorship in student journalism. According to Flipp Kofman, a contributor to George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal, a Tenth Circuit Court in a separate but similar case, Fleming v. Jefferson County School District R-1, 537 U.S. 1110 (2003) separated Hazelwood from Tinker. The Court in this case ruled that the Hazelwood school newspaper was a
Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988). In a Hazelwood East High School newspaper, a group of students were given their first chance to explore journalism. Along with that privilege granted to explore and create journalistic content, the students are also allowed to edit their own paper. However, in the late spring of 1983, the school principal reviewed the upcoming final draft of the student paper. The principal found two out of the many articles submitted to be unacceptable and ordered the students not publish any of their content from the two “problematic” articles. In regard to the objected content, one story was about teen pregnancy, the other was about divorce. One of the students that wrote one of the articles, Cathy Kuhlmeier, and two other Hazelwood East students filed a lawsuit against the school district. In a 5-3 decision by the Supreme Court, the majority opinion stated schools have the right to reject school sponsored content that is "inconsistent with the shared values of a civilized social order.” The Supreme Court went on to claim, “Educators did not offend the First Amendment by exercising editorial control over the content of student speech so long as their actions were reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns." As part of me does agree with this ruling due to the fact it is sponsored by the school. However, another part of me thinks that these are important and relevant issues that the students wrote about and should have been able to publish their work. In support of my latter opinion, I feel this sets a dangerous precedent that could lead to censorship in student journalism. According to Flipp Kofman, a contributor to George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal, a Tenth Circuit Court in a separate but similar case, Fleming v. Jefferson County School District R-1, 537 U.S. 1110 (2003) separated Hazelwood from Tinker. The Court in this case ruled that the Hazelwood school newspaper was a