Legal Question in Constitutional Law in New York
First Amendment Question
I am curious about something I read in the newspaper. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-linorth0613,0,626848.story is the link to the article. It sounds to me like removing the quotes would be unconstitution by violating the first amendment's freedom of speech. Is that true?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: First Amendment Question
No courts have concluded that such censorship would not be considered a first amendment violation. Schools have great deference in regulating and controlling student activities including speech. They can control who and what is said at assemblies, graduations and sporting events and they can control content published at school. While schools do not have absolute discretion (Schools cannot suspend a student for wearing a shirt with a political message, or discipline a student for wearing a pin supporting a politician or political viewpoint) schools can control the content of its student's published materials such as newspapers and yearbooks. Courts have concluded that there is a substantial interest in making sure that schools function without disciplinary distractions, and accoredingly students sacrafice some first amendment protections so that school's can operate unimpeded for their primary purpose, educating students.
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