Westside Community Schools Vs Mergens

This document supports limiting online student speech because the court ruled that even though it happened out of school, the school’s reason was strong enough to justify their actions toward K.K.

school environment" (Eaton, 2014). The Supreme Court has not yet made a ruling on a case

One case that caught my eye was the O.T. v. Frenchtown Elementary School District Board of Education, where a student performed in an afterschool talent show and wanted to sing the song “Awesome God.” The school violated her rights due to her performance not bearing the imprimatur of the school and her viewpoint being discriminated (O.T. v. Frenchtown Elementary School District Board of Education).

School boards often do not adequately justify their reasons for denying High School Students their first amendment rights. Usually, the

In the Supreme Court Case Bethel School District #43 vs. Fraser, the main constitutional issue under scrutiny was the first amendment rights and what they specifically cover. The parties involved in the case was the Bethel School District itself, and the high school senior from that school named Matthew Fraser. The court hearing itself happened in 1986 but the incident causing the court case happened in 1983. The incident occurred at Bethel High School in Bethel Washington, and was an ongoing controversy until it was put to rest by the Supreme Court.

In the case of Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, several students in January of 1990 sued the school board alleging that Westside's refusal to allow the students to start a Christian club violated the Equal Access Act. Some students wanted to form this club and be given the same privileges and meeting terms as other after-school schools in this district. The administration initially denied the request, and the school board upheld the administration's decision. The Court of Appeals found in favor of the students in June of 1990.

The 3 teenagers ended up filing a Civil Rights lawsuit in federal court through their fathers, asking the court to issue an injunction that would bar the school system from further disciplining students in the same situation as well nominal damages. The district court sided with the school board, deciding that the school’s fear of this protest causing disruptions of school discipline was within reason. The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this ruling on an evenly divided vote. The students ended up bringing their case to the Supreme Court after that.

A student at Westside High School requested to form a Christian Club that would meet after school. The club would be granted the same privileges as the other student groups at the school, but they did not have a faculty sponsor. Her request was denied by the principal stating that the club would violate the Establishment Clause and the School Board policy requiring a faculty member to sponsor the club. Mergens took her concerns to the School Board. The School Board upheld the principal’s decision. Mergens filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education of Westside Community Schools, for denying the request for a Christian

A lot of court cases are historically important and sometimes they the result in changing certain laws. For example, the Brown v. Board of Ed court case ended racial segregation in the U.S., and the Gideon v. Wainwright case required the state to provide low-income defendants with an attorney if they could not afford one. These two cases changed the Federal Constitution against racism and made it possible for all citizens to have the same rights in Untied State, and everyone experiences these changes on a daily basis. Another court case made a change in the Federal Constitution is Tinker v. Des Moines. Tinker v. Des Moines court case took a big part during the Vietnam War because it brought even more attention to the

Decision: In 1985, the principal and superintendent of Westside High School (a secondary school in Omaha, Nebraska) cited the Establishment Clause as a reason for denying the request of Bridget Mergens to form a Christian club that would have the same privileges and meet on the same terms and conditions as other Westside student groups, except that it would have no faculty sponsor. Ms. Mergens took the case to court, and won at first. She lost on appeal at the 8th Circuit Court, and then later won in a 8-1 decision from the Supreme Court

Perform a search in the University Library databases and locate four school-related court cases (with outcomes decided), two which involve educators as defendants and two which involve students as defendants. Fill in the table below. When you give your informed opinion, state and discuss whether you agree or disagree with the outcome. Base your opinion on legal and ethical standards as discussed in Ch. 9 of the text. If you do not agree with the outcome, explain what would have been just. Base your explanation upon the rights and responsibilities of those involved. Cite your sources in APA format below the table.

The affirmative action case I chose for a case study involved the case of Abigail Fisher verses the University of Texas (UT), this suit was originally filed during the second quarter of 2008 after her application for admission into the college was rejected. Her suit alleged her admission was rejected on the grounds of her “race” which was a violation of the equal protection clause found in the Fourteenth Amendment. This case would go completely through the judicial system in the State of Texas, Fifth Circuit of Appeals and finally before the Supreme Court of the United States of America which issued a final ruling in June of 2016.

An example of this is the Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, one of the first famous cases. This case opposed the separate but equal doctrine. The entire event was based off of cases before it (www.uscourts.gov). The 4 cases before that led up to main event included Murray v. Maryland (1936), Missouri ex rel Gaines v. Canada (1938), Sweat v. Painter (1950), McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents of Higher Education (1950), and finally the main Brown v. Board of Education (1954) (www.uscourts.gov). The 5 cases that were summed up as the Brown v. Board were the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel. The reason these 5 were put together was because they all related to segregation in public schools. Sociology tests proved that segregation schools made black children feel inferior to the white (www.uscourts.gov). The Supreme Court obtained information on all the states with laws permitting schools to submit plans for segregations from each attorney general of every state. The court wanted other opinions on the case based on all the states. Although this case ended segregation in public schools, rules needed to be arranged in the public transportation

Another Supreme Court case which was very popular when it was being tried, and still is today, is the case of Gideon v. Wainwright. In this case, which was decided on March 18, 1963, a man named Clarence Gideon was denied his sixth amendment right to an attorney. Gideon was arrested in Florida in 1961 for breaking and entering into a pool hall with the intent of committing another crime there. When he asked for an attorney to represent him because he couldn’t afford one, he was denied of his Sixth Amendment right. When asked why, he was told that by Florida State Law, the only time an attorney is appointed to the accused is when a person is charged with a capital offense. Gideon put together a defense as best he could, and represented himself during trial. As can be expected from a man with no law experience, he lost his case and was found guilty. He was sentenced to five years in prison, until he filed a habeas corpus petition; meaning a petition saying he was wrongly imprisoned (pbs.org). When this case went to the Supreme Court, Gideon argued that he was violated of his Sixth Amendment right to an attorney, regardless of the status of his case. The Supreme Court ruled in a 9-0 decision, the right to an attorney should be given in all criminal prosecutions (oyez.org). This was a huge case for the criminal justice system simply because it allowed for fair representation for everyone. There were no longer people who went to jail simply because of the fact that they

If this case came up before me in the Supreme Court I would rule that the high school can not ban students