Goss v. Lopez

Infobox SCOTUS case
Litigants=Goss v. Lopez
ArgueDate=October 16
ArgueYear=1974
DecideDate=January 22
DecideYear=1975
FullName=Goss, et al. v. Lopez, et al.
USVol=419
USPage=565
Citation=
Prior=Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
Subsequent=
Holding=The students' suspension from school without a hearing violated the due process right protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
SCOTUS=1972-1975
Majority=White
JoinMajority=Douglas, Stewart, Brennan, Marshall
Dissent=Powell
JoinDissent=Burger, Blackmun, Rehnquist
LawsApplied=U.S. Const. Amend. XIV

"Goss v. Lopez", 419 U.S. 565 (1974) was a United States Supreme Court case that held that the school must conduct a hearing before subjecting a student to suspension. Suspending a student from school without holding an appropriate hearing was considered by the Court to be a violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

History

9 named students, including a student named Dwight Lopez, were suspended from attending school for 10 days for destroying school property and disrupting the learning environment. In fact, Lopez testified that at least 75 other students were also suspended from his school on the same day. [cite web|title=Read and Teach — Goss v. Lopez (1975)|url=http://www.reachandteach.com/content/article.php?story=20040630131822975|accessdate=2007-05-26] At that time, Ohio state law said that schools had the right to suspend problem students without a hearing. A three-judge District Court struck down the law, saying that it violated the students' right to due process of law. The District Court held that:

Soon afterwards, the case was appealed to the Supreme Court.

Holding

Because Ohio decided to make education a right of the citizens, the state could not deprive citizens of that right without due process of law. In this case, due process would be served via a student disciplinary hearing. Since no such hearing occurred, the court concluded that the suspension violated the students' rights.

References

Further reading

* cite journal | last = Ellis | first = Michael A. | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1976 | month = | title = Procedural Due Process after "Goss v. Lopez" | journal = Duke Law Journal | volume = 1976 | issue = 2 | pages = 409–430 | doi = 10.2307/1371983 | url = | accessdate = | quote =

External links

* [http://www.oyez.org/cases/case/?case=1970-1979/1974/1974_73_898 Oyez.org entry]
* [http://supreme.justia.com/us/419/565/case.html Opinion of the court]