Rulings on Free Speech for Students
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Students' free-speech rights -- and limits school administrators may impose -- are defined in a trio of cases:
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969): The court held that students had a First Amendment right to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands in class. "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights of freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate," the majority opinion said.
Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986): The court said a student had no First Amendment right to give a "plainly offensive," sexually charged speech at a school assembly. The court said schools had a right to limit speech that would disrupt the educational mission of the school.
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988): The court said that students do not have the right to publish stories, in this case on divorce and pregnancy, in a school-sponsored newspaper over the principal's objection. Such speech, the justices ruled, could be perceived as carrying the official sanction of school officials.
