No, the
fact did not violate their First Amendment Rights
Among
the five rights enshrined in the First Amendment is that of free press
(Alexander & Alexander, 2013). Absent any further analysis, the two editors
may seem justified in making their claim. The fact, however, is that the First
Amendment rights are not absolute. This is often illustrated by the statement
attributed to Justice Holmes to the effect that people do not have a right to
cause unnecessary alarm where that would create problems. Certain categories of
speech and expressions are unprotected. Defamation is one of those unprotected
expressions. Both the principal and District superintendent think that the
confiscated publications are defamatory. This would seem to justify the actions
of the superintendent and the principal.
There
has also been recognition that school authorities may rightly control student
expression. Thus in Moshe v. Frederick,
there was nothing wrong with school authorities confiscating a banner that
tended to promote drug use among students (Alexander & Alexander, 2013). The
court took note of the fact that schools had special characteristics that
necessitate such controls. It was also held in Scott v. School Board of
Alachua Co. the courts will exercise restraint and only interfere with the
administration of school in situations where such administration leads to a
constitutional violation.
Lastly,
it should be noted that the constitutional rules governing student publications
are different from other newspapers (Alexander & Alexander, 2013). This was
indeed the decision in Kuhlmeier case in which a valid educational purpose was
held out as a ground for restraining student publications. The school
authorities in the case under analysis can actually argue that they had a valid
educational purpose in preventing the publication of potentially defamatory
material. Besides, the school authorities should have more control over school
sponsored publications.
Reference
Alexander, K., &Alexander, D. (2013).American Public School Law, 8th
Ed.Belmon, CA: Wadsworth,
Cengage Learning.
0 comments:
Post a Comment