Influential Supreme Court Decisions

In conclusion, just one Supreme Court ruling can affect education, and significant Supreme Court rulings relating to education have effects beyond the classroom, with Brown V. Board of Education being the catalyst for the Civil Rights movement, Tinker v. Des Moines and subsequent cases determining how schools can regulate student speech, or more recent cases that open the door to future rulings on education related content on social media such as Mahanoy Area School District V. B.L  (Bell, 2005; Chemerinsky, 2000; Erickson & D. Bunker, 2024). The Court has an opportunity to change the education system forever.

I used AI in this process by asking ChatGPT Plus Version how to cite online images I had edited in Photoshop, and I also asked it to create a picture related to New Jersey v. T.L.O., since none was available with a Creative Commons license. Also, I asked for scholarly sources. I also used Grammarly Premium for grammar. When I did revisions, I used the same tools and asked GPT-5 for ideas for an anticipatory set, and it suggested having students serve as judges in a court case beforehand. All of these tools were very helpful for this assignment and made the initial work and revisions much easier. My current view on the use of AI is that it's fine as long as you remain in control of your own work, don't have the AI do the work for you, and disclose what you use it for. In the future, I will use AI for basic tasks like corrections and quality-of-life improvements, but I will still do the work and remain in control, which will be the same policy I implement in the classroom.

Study Questions

1. In what court case did the Supreme Court rule that free speech did not end at the schoolhouse gate?

A. Brown v. Board of Education 

B. Bethel School District v. Fraser

C. Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier

D. Tinker v. Des Moines

2. A Vice Principal sees a student doing activities that give them suspicion that the student may have illicit items in their backpack and demands that the backpack be searched. Is this a qualified instance where they can search the student without consent? 

A. No, there is no probable cause.

B. No, the Vice Principal is not a part of law enforcement.

C.  Yes, the Vice Principal has reasonable suspicion.

D. Yes, the Fourth Amendment does not apply to students.

Correct answers are D and C.

References.

A. Bell, D., Jr. (2005). The unintended lessons in Brown V. Board of Education. New York Law School, 49(4), 3. https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1296&context=nyls_law_review&utm

Blue, F. (2018, February 28). High school students protest against gun violence and for gun law reform (J. Eaton, Ed.). Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:High_school_students_protest_against_gun_violence_and_for_gun_law_reform_%2839698775044%29.jpg

Brown v. Board of Education (1954). (2024, March 18). National Archives. Retrieved September 15, 2025, from https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/brown-v-board-of-education

CarbonNYC. (2008, November 15). Hey, you got your church in my state! (J. Eaton, Ed.). Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hey,_You_Got_Your_Church_In_My_State!_%283036363927%29.jpg

Chemerinsky, E. (2000). Students do leave their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gates: What’s left of Tinker? Drake Law Review, 48, 527–546. https://drakelawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/chemerinksy.pdf?

Erickson, E., & D. Bunker, M. (2024). Waiting for Mahanoy: Examining the Still-Unsettled Jurisprudence of Online Student Speech. William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, 32(4), 9. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2084&context=wmborj&utm

Galvin, J. (2021, May 19). Brown V. Board of Education National Historic Site (J. Eaton, Ed.). Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_v._Board_of_Education_National_Historic_Site.jpg

History - Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment. (n.d.). United States Courts. Retrieved October 6, 2025, from https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/educational-activities/brown-v-board-education-re-enactment/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment

Ibrahim.ID. (2024, August 6). Social Media Collection 2020s (J. Eaton, Ed.). Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social_media_collection_2020s.png

L. Hudson, D., Jr. (2021, July 6). Mahanoy Area School District V. B.L. (2021): At Middle Tennessee State University. The Free Speech Center. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/mahanoy-area-school-district-v-b-l/#:~:text=The%20controversy%20began%20when%20then,with%20Mahanoy%20Area%20High%20School.

Marshall, W. P. (2018). The constitutionality of school prayer: or why Engel v. Vitale may have had it right all along. Capital University Law Review, 46(3), 339–372. https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1432&context=faculty_publications

Mathews, J. (2025, August 5). Constitutional continuity in a time of change. The Regulatory Review. Retrieved September 24, 2025, from https://www.theregreview.org/2025/08/06/mathews-constitutional-continuity-in-a-time-of-change/?utm

Quimbee. (2024, January 19). Mahanoy Area School District V. B.L. Case Brief Summary | Law case explained [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 27, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNGX4TS-0l4

Stahl, J. (2015, October 30). 10 Important Supreme Court Cases About Education. National Constitution Center. Retrieved September 11, 2025, from https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/10-important-supreme-court-cases-about-education

Stoddard, B. (2011). New Jersey v. T.L.O.: School searches and the applicability of the exclusionary rule in juvenile delinquency and criminal proceedings. Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, 2011(2), 19. https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1303&context=elj

The Jim Crow era. (n.d.). American Battlefield Trust. Retrieved October 6, 2025, from https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/jim-crow-era