Law & Courts

Education and the Supreme Court

By Mark Walsh — July 13, 2010 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The U.S. Supreme Court term that ended late last month was not nearly as significant for education law as the court’s previous term. But it was one of momentous change in terms of personnel, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor serving her first year and generally ruling with the court’s liberals, and the retirement after nearly 35 years of Justice John Paul Stevens, a champion of strict church-state separation and often of the rights of students. Here are capsule summaries of several cases school law experts were watching:

FIRST AMENDMENT

Nondiscrimination Policies in Schools

Christian Legal Society Chapter v. Martinez (08-1371)

The justices ruled that a law school may deny recognition to a Christian student group that refuses membership to gays and lesbians. The school’s “accept-all-comers” policy, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in a 5-4 opinion for the court, is a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral condition on access to the privileges of registered student groups, and thus does not violate the First Amendment rights of the religious group.

The National School Boards Association, which had filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the National Association of Secondary School Principals on the law school’s side, said the decision would help K-12 schools apply their nondiscrimination policies to student clubs.

Political Speech

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (08-205)

In a 5-4 ruling that defined the court’s term, the justices overturned limits on campaign spending for political-advocacy ads by corporations and labor unions. The court overruled two precedents on campaign finance and struck down, under the First Amendment’s free-speech clause, key provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better known as the McCain-Feingold law.

Although the AFL-CIO, of which the American Federation of Teachers is a member, had filed a brief opposing limits on union political speech, both the aft and the National Education Association criticized the court’s decision, saying it would prove far more beneficial to corporate interests in federal elections than to unions.

FOURTH AMENDMENT

Public Employees’ Work Privacy

City of Ontario, California v. Quon (08-1332)

The court unanimously upheld a California city’s search of a police officer’s government-provided pager that revealed sexually explicit text messages. But it stopped short of issuing a broad ruling about the rights of public employees to be free of intrusive government searches of their communications devices and records.

The NSBA and the NASSP had urged the high court to rule broadly that public employees do not have reasonable expectations of privacy in their electronic communications on government technology. But Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said that the high court must “proceed with care” when considering the privacy expectations of workers.

EIGHTH AMENDMENT

Juvenile Justice

Graham v. Florida (08-7412)

The court ruled that a sentence of life in prison without the possibility parole for a juvenile offender in a nonhomicide case violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The justices decided 6-3 to overturn the sentence of a Florida man who received such a sentence for a series of robberies he had committed at ages 16 and 17, although only five justices backed the broader Eighth Amendment ruling.

Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority that, in accord with a 2005 Supreme Court decision that barred the death penalty for juvenile offenders, developments in psychology and brain science continue to show that juveniles are more capable of change than are adults, and that their actions are less likely to be evidence of “irretrievably depraved character than are the actions of adults.”

CIVIL RIGHTS

Attorneys’ Fees

Perdue v. Kenny A. (08-970)

The justices ruled unanimously that federal courts may award enhanced attorneys’ fees, above and beyond normal hourly rates, to lawyers who do an exceptional job in seeking institutional reform in such areas as foster care and education. But such enhanced awards will be upheld only in extraordinary circumstances, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the court. The justices ruled 5-4 that an enhancement of $4.5 million, on top of $6 million in regular hourly fees, to lawyers who brought about changes in Georgia’s foster-care system was not justified.

The case was monitored by the NSBA, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief on the side of Georgia arguing that enhanced-fee awards would harm districts and discourage them from settling lawsuits seeking broad reforms.

A version of this article appeared in the July 14, 2010 edition of Education Week as Education and the Supreme Court

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts Trump Admin. Can Proceed With Ed. Dept. Layoffs, Supreme Court Rules
The Trump administration asked the justices to set aside an injunction blocking its layoffs of 1,400 Education Department employees.
6 min read
Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon outside of the West Wing following a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 11, 2025 in Washington.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon outside of the West Wing following a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 11, 2025, in Washington. McMahon is carrying out a Trump administration plan to lay off roughly 1,400 Education Department employees, a move critics say is aimed at dismantling the agency.
Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto via AP
Law & Courts Opinion How the Supreme Court Is Making Public Education Itself Unconstitutional
In a recent ruling, the high court took a step toward effectively outlawing public schools.
Johann Neem
5 min read
Photo illustration of Supreme Court building and U.S. Constitution.
Education Week + Getty
Law & Courts Supreme Court to Weigh State Laws Barring Transgender Athletes in Girls' Sports
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up transgender sports laws from Idaho and West Virginia, among the 27 states that have such laws.
5 min read
This artist sketch depicts Justice Amy Coney Barrett, from left, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the Justices announce opinions at the Supreme Court in Washington, on June 27, 2025.
An artist sketch depicting Justice Amy Coney Barrett, from left, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the Justices announce opinions at the Supreme Court in Washington, on June 27, 2025. The Supreme Court on July 3, 2025, announced it will hear cases challenging Idaho and West Virginia laws that bar transgender students from participating in girls’ or women’s school sports, stepping into a high-profile legal battle over transgender rights in schools.
Dana Verkouteren via AP
Law & Courts Appeals Court Backs Fla. Law Barring Transgender Teacher's Use of Her Pronouns
A federal court upheld Florida’s ban on K-12 teachers using pronouns that differ from their sex assigned at birth when speaking to students.
4 min read
A new billboard welcoming visitors to "Florida: The Sunshine 'Don't Say Gay or Trans' State," is seen on April 21, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Florida's state government and LGBTQ+ advocates have settled a lawsuit challenging a law that bars teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools.
A billboard welcoming visitors to "Florida: The Sunshine 'Don't Say Gay or Trans' State," is seen on April 21, 2022, in Orlando. The billboard was a commentary by an LGBTQ+ rights group on a controversial law backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis regarding the teaching of certain topics. A federal appeals court on July 2 refused to block a related law, one barring teachers from using pronouns or titles that don't match their sex assigned at birth.
John Raoux/AP