How Courts Address Our Rights (ANSWERED)

QUESTION

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

• Textbook: Chapter 11, 12
• Lesson
• Minimum of 2 scholarly sources in addition to the textbook.

Instructions

This assignment is comprised of 2 parts, the first of which is due this week. Part II will be due in Week 7.

In Part I this week, choose a case from your state that involves civil rights or civil liberties that was decided by the United States Supreme Court. If your state does not have a case that was decided by the United States Supreme Court, choose a civil rights case from another state for which the United States Supreme Court issued a decision.

Here is a brief description of civil rights and civil liberties: Civil rights refers to equal social opportunities under the law. It gives you these freedoms such as the right to vote, the right to public education, or a fair trial, among other things, regardless of your wealth or race. Civil liberties mean freedom of religion, equal treatment and due process under the law, and the right to privacy.

You should be able to go online and look up your state and famous cases decided by the Supreme Court. For example, Brown v Board of Education (1951) started in Topeka, Kansas and ended up in the Supreme Court of the United States. Another example would be Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v Steve Sisolak, Governor of Nevada (2020) that started in Nevada and ended up the United States Supreme Court. A good source of information about cases decided by the United States Supreme Court is www.scotusblog.com. Other sources can be researched online using search terms for “civil rights cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.” Be sure to use a case actually decided by the United States Supreme Court, and not a case decided by your state’s supreme court or a different court. A case that is still pending before the United States Supreme Court should not be used. If you are unsure, please contact your Professor BEFORE you pick your case and submit the assignment as this is a significant part of your overall grade.

Research your court case and write an outline of the case that you will be using to prepare a presentation, which will either be a narrated PowerPoint, a Kaltura Video, or some other format as approved by your instructor. If you are unsure, then verify the presentation format with your instructor before starting work on this assignment.

This week’s assignment should include (a) summary of the case; (b) a case outline; and a summary.

A. Summary of the Case

In one or two paragraphs, provide a general overview of the case that serves as a snapshot of what the case is about and how it ended up in your state high court. A summary is using your words to write a brief history of the case. Do not give your opinion or your interpretation but stick to the facts only.

B: Case Outline

Your court case outline should include:

1. Title: Name of the case
2. Facts of the case: Provide key facts involving the case.
3. History of the case: What legal action was taken based on what your state laws say about this case?
4. Legal questions: What were the legal issues the court had to decide?
5. Decision or holdings: Did the court decide for the plaintiff or the defendant? Explain the reason behind the decision?
6. Verdict and opinion (judgement): What were the concurring and dissenting opinions? How many judges decided for the defendant and how many justices decided against the defendant? What was the final verdict from the judge or the jury, if it was a jury trial?

C. Conclusion

What was the resulting impact of the ruling? How did the citizens of your state benefit from it? Was this a good decision?

Writing Requirements (APA format)

• The length of your outline will vary. Usually an outline is anywhere from 1-3 pages long. Make sure to write full sentences to explain your case. It is a concise list to be used as a reference for you during the presentation.
  Using the outline, you will be describing the court case in your presentation and the scenario around the court case. The use of Wikipedia as a primary source of information is to be avoided – it is not a reliable source of information.
  Search for an example of a case outline in the Internet. Without going into much detail at this state, each of the items listed above has a subject sentence with 3-6 bullet points that can help you expand on the topic.
  For Week 7, you will be creating a narrated PowerPoint, or a video as approved by your instructor, from this week’s outline.
  This assignment is worth 200 points.

• 1-inch margins
• Double spaced
• 12-point Times New Roman font
• Title page
• References page (minimum of 2 scholarly sources in addition to textbook if cited)

ANSWER

Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser

Case Summary

Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser is a landmark US Supreme Court case of July 7, 1986. It ruled that school officials acted within the law and did not violate the student’s process rights and free speech by punishing him for making a vulgar and lewd speech at a school assembly. Matthew Fraser gave a speech in April 1983 to nominate a classmate for a position in student government. The speech had several sexual references and innuendos that caused mixed reactions in the audience. School officials punished Fraser the next day by suspending him for three days and prohibiting him from making a commencement speech at the graduation.

His father filed a suit at the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleging that the school officials violated freedom of speech as stipulated in the First Amendment. It awarded the respondent $12,750 in litigation costs and $278 in damages. The school officials appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court upheld the lower court’s decision arguing that the case was similar to that of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, where students wore armbands in protest. The case was heard at the US Supreme Court on March 3, 1986. It held that students have free expression rights, as in the Tinker case, but the case for Frazer was different. It argued that the state was responsible for protecting children from offensive and vulgar language, and as much as they should protect the students’ freedom of expression, school officials had the authority to determine the appropriateness of the student’s speech (Decker, 2022).

Case Summary

Title: Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser

US Supreme Court, 1986

Facts of the case:

A) A Bethel High School student, Matthew Fraser, gave a nominating speech for a fellow student running for a student government office at the school assembly with an audience of approximately 600 students. The speech had several sexual references and innuendos.

B) Two teachers had warned Fraser that the speech was inappropriate for the audience and that he would be punished if he delivered it.

C) A day after delivering the speech, the assistant principal said that Fraser violated the school policy against obscene language. The school officials punished him by removing his name from the list of commencement speakers at the graduation and giving him a three-day suspension.

D) On his behalf, his father moved to a federal district court file suit against the school official for infringing on the right to freedom of speech in reference to the First Amendment.

History of the case:

A) The district court ruled in favor of the respondent, arguing that the school violated the First Amendment.

B) It held that the school policy regulations against disruptive conduct were overbroad and vague, and removing his name from the graduation list violated the Fourteenth Amendment Clause on Due Process.

C) The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the ruling by referring to the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) case, where armband protest was found to cause no disruption.

Legal questions:

A) Did the school violate the right to freedom of speech as laid out in the First Amendment by punishing Fraser?

B) Did the school violate the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by barring him from giving a commencement speech at the graduation?

Decisions or holdings:

A) The US Supreme Court ruled that the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) case differed in that high school students could not be afforded adult freedom of speech.

B) School authorities can decide which speech is appropriate to protect children from offensive and vulgar language.

Verdict and judgment:

A) The concurring justices argued that the remarks in Fraser’s speech were offensively lewd, vulgar, and obscene. The school officials rightfully punished Frazer for uttering such remarks because they had the authority to determine the permissible limits of the student’s freedom of speech, which the respondent exceeded.

B) The dissenting justices argued that the court failed to prove that the respondent’s speech caused or could lead to disruption and referred to the Tinker case arguing that the school officials violated the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment.

C) In a 7-2 vote, the US Supreme Court ruled that the school officials did not violate the First Amendment or the Fourteenth Amendment since they had the authority to determine inappropriate speech and the appropriate punishment, which they did within the law (Bethel School District No. 403 et al. v. Fraser, A Minor, et al., n.d.).

Conclusion

The court made the difference between sexual and political speech clear. Fraser’s speech was sexual, while Tinker’s case was political. Advocating for freedom to express controversial or unpopular views in schools must consider the society’s countervailing interest in teaching students socially acceptable behavior. Schools have the authority to prohibit using offensive and vulgar language in public. The Supreme Court’s ruling has remained critical to date as it has made it clear that public school officials can punish students who express themselves lewdly or profanely (Hudson, n.d.).

References

Bethel School District No. 403 et al. v. Fraser, A Minor, et al. (n.d.). Certorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Library of Congress. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep478/usrep478675/usrep478675.pdf

Decker, J. R. (2022). Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser law case. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fourteenth-Amendment

Hudson, D. L. (n.d.). Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986). Middle Tennessee State University: The First Amendment Encyclopedia. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/675/bethel-school-district-no-403-v-fraser

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