On April 26, 1983, Matthew Fraser gave a speech nominating another student for an elected position. The speech was given to about 600 fourteen year olds that chose to attend this assembly. The speech contained sexual innuendo. Before giving the speech Fraser received advise from several teachers that he should change the speech or not give one at all. But he refused to take their advice (2). The next day, he was called in to an administrative office and was suspended for three days and was told he would not be able to give his speech during graduation even though he was at the time the salutatorian. The family of Fraser filed a grievance with the Pierce County school board, but the officer upheld the suspension. In response, to that decision Matthew’s father filed a case against the school district. The District Court ruled that the student’s First Amendment right was infringed upon. The students was awarded a monetary judgment and allowed to give his graduation speech. Later, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the District Court (4). Later, the US Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals in a 7-2 vote to reinstate the suspension, saying that the school district's policy did not violate the First Amendment (3).…
Josh Renville, an 18 year old student attending Fargo North High School has petitioned against the school in question for violating his first amendment right to freedom of speech. The school prohibited Renville from using a photograph in which he his holding his favorite rifle for his senior portrait in the yearbook. Renville claims that by prohibiting the photograph, the school is infringing on his rights to freedom of symbolic speech. Despite Renville’s claims, the actions taken by the administrators at Fargo North High were completely constitutional. Fargo North was acting well within their constitutional limits to promote the ideals of public education, to properly monitor any media that would have been associated with the school, and to limit any action that inherently interfered with the school’s disciplinary…
Public school students from Columbus, Ohio brought this suit. They claimed that their constitutional right to due process was violated. The students were suspended without hearing prior to their suspension. They were suspended for destroying school property but principals can only suspend up to 10 days or expel them. If suspended they must notify parents without 24 hours and give the reasons. Students may appeal to the board of education.…
A poignant question that has been raised throughout American society since the constitution was written is should it be the responsibility of the law to change society or to protect the original intent of the country’s forefathers? The challenge with the original document is it left out everyone that was not a white male, meaning women and people of color. With regards to civil rights and liberties, the law should accommodate the needs of a society rather than dominate a select group or groups of people due to an existing standard of racial oppression. One of the difficulties regarding the Plessy vs. Ferguson case was the fact that southern whites were still not willing to view African Americans as equals because it threatened their belief…
Segregation in public schools was made legal by Plessy v. Ferguson. This "separate but equal" situation soon became an issue in the mid-1900s. Parents brought cases of segregation of their children to courts and fought for their child's rights. One case in particular stood out. Olive Brown requested access for his child, Linda, to attend school five blocks away from their home in Topeka, Kansas.…
The Civil Rights Movement was this mass protest against racial segregation and discrimination. This concerned mostly the south part of the United states and African American people. African American people wanted freedom and equals rights just as white people (mainly males). I will be talking about the Brown vs. Board of Education, the Little Rock Nine, and the Greensboro sit-ins.…
Objective 1: Understand the constitutional basis of civil liberties and the Supreme Court's role in defining them.…
Brown v. Board of Education opened the doors to integrated schools. America’s educational system no longer discriminated and rejected students from enrolling in a public school based on their race. For this reason, schools have a diverse student population. Thus, this enables students to interact and learn about different cultures and backgrounds other than their own. In today’s educational system, every student, regardless of race, has the right of obtaining an education that enables them to achieve educational mastery. Brown v. Board of Education court case proved that equality is an important aspect for students. As a future educator, it is evident that I will be teaching students from diverse background and ethnicities.…
The American Civil rights Movement, a mass protest movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the southern United States, came to national prominence during the mid-1950s. The start of the Civil Rights Movement began in 1954. In this year the Supreme Court said, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, that separating students by race created educational facilities that were unequal. It was declared that this violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which was aimed at protecting the citizenship rights and equal protection of all Americans but primarily former slaves. The ruling had the effect of desegregating public schools in the United States.…
Historical civil rights movements have fought against major problems of racism, such as slavery and segregation; however, racism has taken on many different forms in present day society. Although segregation and racial profiling no longer legally exist in America’s K-12 public school system, minority students now find themselves at risk of facing racial profiling inside the classroom. When being treated for misbehavior at school, oftentimes African American students face disproportionate odds of the severity of punishment mandated compared to students of white descent. According to Deborah N. Archer, professor of law at New York Law School, “African American students represented only 17% of public school…
It is important that citizens have a suitable way of implementing their constitutional rights against the government; those rights may be emphasized both offensively and defensively. For example a person accused of committing a crime has a series of rights which are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and state laws. Therefore, if you have been accused of a crime, just how do you know if your rights have been…
The legislature of the fictitious state of Xanadu passes a law that states "All people are welcome at all state-run swimming, beach and golf facilities, as long as they are white. Non-whites may not use any of those facilities."…
Imagine it’s your first day of high school, as you approach the steps of your new school mobs of violent people swarm you shouting obscene profanity. This was common for the students who were chosen to integrate Central High School. Civil rights is a tricky subject but I feel it’s important that we examine the past to learn for the future. In 1947 the high of civil rights era was brewing, figures emerged which pushed humanity forward towards equal treatment of all races. Little Rock, Arkansas also made headlines when the supreme court ordered that nine students, all different ages, be integrated into the local school district. Of course this action was highly looked down upon, but local leaders in favor of desegregation supported court's actions.…
In the early 1960’s there was a movement for African Americans to gain their civil rights in America. Following this movement, there have been several movements for groups of Americans to also gain civil rights. This poses the question: what are civil rights and whom do they apply to? Through the duration of this semester, I have been given several chances to reflect on whom the modern civil rights movement applies to. As this semester comes to an end I have not changed my overall views on civil rights, but rather solidified my definition of them. I believe that civil rights apply to all people of every race, gender, sex, and sexual orientation, and America’s laws should be kept completely separate from religions and faith communities.…
Currently, our constitutional rights are being abused through the average American citizen’s ignorance pertaining to his or her entitled rights. An article in the New York Times states, “Only one-third of adult Americans can correctly identify the Bill of Rights and fewer than 1 in 10 know it was adopted to protect them against abuses by the Federal Government, a poll made public today says” (New York Times). Due to this unawareness, citizen’s rights are being taken advantage of when stopped by police force. As two chief police men and an educated attorney notice the ignorance of the youth, they attempt to influence pre-schoolers in creating “support for federal legislation aimed at expanding early learning programs”…