School administrators barred an Arab Union student group from screening a documentary because the “content and individuals associated with the film may provoke strong emotional responses.”
In 2023, South Dakota’s Mitchell School District 17–2 passed a vague and overbroad “hate speech” policy that infringes on the constitutional rights of students, district staff, parents, and other visitors.
In the last few years, libraries have become an active front in America’s culture war, with states passing laws that impose restrictions on what materials school or public libraries can carry.
The Supreme Court has provided a general outline of the First Amendment rights of high school students, although some states have passed laws to provide additional protection for free speech in schools.
Lawmakers across the country are advancing legislation intended to protect minors from harms allegedly caused by social media use, but the First Amendment prohibits the government from swinging an ax when a scalpel might suffice.
High school debate is being captured by political ideology, rendering certain arguments off-limits, some debate topics undebatable, and ad hominem attacks fair game.
High schools cannot punish a student for satirizing the principal on social media when the satire occurs off campus and does not cause substantial disruption at school. A principal’s pride is not an exception to the First Amendment.