Desilets v. Clearview Regional Board of Education

Desilets v. Clearview Regional Board of Education
Court	New Jersey Supreme Court
Date decided	September 22, 1994
Citation(s)	137 N.J. 585, 647 A.2d. 150 (1994)
Judge(s) sitting	Chief Justice Robert Wilentz Justices Clifford, Garibaldi, Handler, O'Hern, Pollock, and Stein
Case opinions
Majority: Per curiam Concurrence/Dissent: Pollock, joined by Wilentz

Desilets v. Clearview Regional Board of Education, 137 N.J. 585 (1994) was a New Jersey Supreme Court decision that held that public school curricular student newspapers that have not been established as forums for student expression are subject to a lower level of First Amendment protection than independent student expression or newspapers established (by policy or practice) as forums for student expression.

Basis

The First Amendment Freedom of Speech clause was not violated by the school district because the First Amendment protection for student expression described in Tinker v. Des Moines Community Independent School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969) does not compel a public school to affirmatively sponsor speech that conflicts with its educational goals. The school-funded newspaper at issue was also not considered to be a public forum under the totality of circumstances present in the case, and therefore, its editors were entitled to a lower level of First Amendment protection than is applicable to independent student newspapers or those newspapers that have, by policy or practice, opened their pages to student opinion.

Precedent

Under the First Amendment, school officials can censor curricular, non-forum student newspapers when they can justify their decision with a legitimate pedagogical (i.e., educational) justification. Subsequent decisions, such as the decision in Dean v. Utica Community Schools, 345 F.Supp.2d 799 (E.D. Mich. 2004), have made clear that this is not carte blanche for school officials to censor articles wantonly or based on personal opinion.

Note also that some states have passed laws guaranteeing that curricular, non-forum newspapers (those at issue in Hazelwood) have greater rights than the First Amendment requires.

See also

• School speech (First Amendment)
• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
• Bethel School District v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986)
• Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988)
• Broussard v. School Board of Norfolk, 801 F. Supp. 1526 (E.D. Va. 1992)
• Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393 (2007)

External links

• Works related to Desilets v. Clearview Regional Board of Education at Wikisource
• Text of Desilets v. Clearview Regional Board of Education, 137 N.J. 585 (1994) is available from:  · Rutgers School of Law - Camden Law Library

• State student free expression laws and regulations