INFLUENTIAL SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

Before 1954, students were forced to attend separate learning facilities based on their race. All-black schools were severely underfunded in comparison to all-white facilities, and students were taught a separate curriculum. Nearly sixty years after the “separate but equal” verdict of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the case of Brown v. The Board of Education (1954) that it was unconstitutional to segregate schools by race and that the separate learning facilities were undoubtedly unequal (Zirkel, Richardson, & Goldberg, 2001, p.136-137). This case's ruling to provide equal learning environments for all students would forever change the structure of the American education system. While the decision was made in an attempt to correct the “psychologically harmful” (McCoy Family Center for Ethics, 2010) impacts of segregation, Michelle Fine (2004) explains in her article that integration came with its own set of harmful impacts as well (p.502). The first being, the sacrifice and disappearance of black culture, history, and community. When all-black schools were closed, students were forced to integrate into previously all-white establishments where the curriculum failed to incorporate their identities. The second difficulty black students endured was the violent protest carried out by their white peers in opposition to integration. Such actions prompted issues with confidence and security within schools and disrupted the learning process for hundreds of African American students (Fine, 2004, p. 502-506).

Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962)

Prior to 1962, the Herricks School District of New York required students to recite prayer during the moment of silence. With many families not adhering to a religion, this requirement was argued to have violated students rights. After the case was heard in the New York Court of Appeals, it was petitioned to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969. A 6-1 vote from the Justices ruled that the requirement was unconstitutional since it promoted the practice of religion in public schools, which violated the Establishment Clause of the first amendment (“Engel v. Vitale”, n.d.; Stahl, 2015, para.3).

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969)

In 1965, a group of students in the Des Moines Independent Community School District in Iowa planned to wear black armbands to school as a form of silent protest against the Vietnam war (Stahl, 2015, para.8). When they arrived on campus, participants were suspended on the grounds that they had disturbed the learning environment (Zirkel, et al., 2001, p.68). As a result, the parents of the student’s sought legal action, but both the U.S. district court, and U.S. court of appeals ruled against their arguments. Eventually the case ended up in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court where the Justices ruled in favor of the students in a 7-2 vote. The conclusion was that the students’ had exercised their first amendment rights and did not directly interfere with school activities. In addition, four Justices contributed limitations on the first amendment rights of students: students are not entitled to all aspects of the first amendment, there is a difference between words and actions when exercising first amendment rights, first amendment rights must be exercised in an appropriate fashion, and school administrators have the authority to disregard the first amendment rights of students in situations where actions pose a threat to school order (“Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District”, n.d.).

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 411 U.S. 192 (1971)

The case of Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) revolved around school finances. In the state of Pennsylvania, a law was passed that allocated supplemental funding for expenses related to the promotion of religious activities in some schools; more specifically, to teacher salaries and school materials. The Justices came to a 5-3 vote, ruling that the act was unconstitutional on the basis that it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by endorsing religion in schools (“Lemon v. Kurtzman”, n.d.). The verdict created the Lemon Test, which evaluates a law's secular purpose, whether or not a law promotes religious activity, and whether or not it invokes government promotion of religion (Stahl, 2015, para.5). This case set the stage for the future evaluation of state and federal funding for school programs.

New Jersey v. T.L.O, 469 U.S. 325 (1985)

A student in Piscataway High School in New Jersey was found smoking in the bathroom, and it was later discovered that she was carrying marijuana paraphernalia in her purse (Stahl, 2015, para.9). In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that students are not protected by fourth amendment privacy rights in circumstances where public school officials have strong probable cause to search their belongings (“New Jersey v. T.L.O.”, n.d.).