Student Censorship | Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2020
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In episode 56 of Supreme Court Briefs, a principal doesn't let students publish stories about teen pregnancy and divorce in the high school newspaper.
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Check out cool primary sources here:
www.oyez.org/cases/1987/86-836
Other sources used:
law.justia.com/cases/federal/...
www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/...
slate.com/technology/2020/08/...
www.scarymommy.com/social-med...
www.uscourts.gov/educational-...
www.law.cornell.edu/supremeco...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazelwo...
www.leagle.com/decision/19887...
St. Louis, Missouri
May 10, 1983
Robert Reynolds, the principal at Hazelwood East High School, looks over the page proofs that were to be published for The Spectrum, the school-sponsored newspaper. The Spectrum was a student newspaper, published every three weeks as part of a Journalism II class. The class distributed around 4500 copies not only to other students, but also sold copies to community members. Hazelwood School District paid for most of the costs of producing the newspaper, however.
Normally, principal Reynolds would be excited to read each new issue. However, this time he found two of the articles in the upcoming issue inappropriate. One story was about teen pregnancy, and included interviews with students at Hazelwood East who had been pregnant. That said, the story used fake names for the girls. Reynolds thought that folks would still figure out who they were, though. Reynolds also thought the article’s references to sex and birth control were not appropriate for younger kids at the school to read about. The second article dealt with divorce, and also brought up personal things that might reveal embarrassing personal family matters involving the students interviewed for it.
Now, instead of giving the students who reported on and edited the story a chance to respond, Reynolds went ahead and cut out the stories from the issue, and in doing so had to omit seven articles from it. So instead of being a six-page issue, it was a four-page issue. The students only found out that the articles had been left out when the issue had been released on May 13.
The three students involved with the two articles were reporters Leslie Smart and Lee Ann Tippett, and the editor Cathy Kuhlmeier. As you could imagine, they were very upset the articles didn’t get published, especially since The Spectrum’s advisor, Robert Stergos, had previously approved them. Kuhlmeier, Smart, and Tippett all confronted Principal Reynolds about what he did. Reynolds told the girls that the stories were “inappropriate, personal, sensitive, and unsuitable.” Well they were certainly not cool with that explanation, and made copies of the deleted articles and distributed them to other students on school premises anyway. They were not punished for that, by the way.
Later, arguing that the school had violated their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech AND freedom of the press, Kuhlmeier, Smart, and Tippett sued the school district and got their case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The District Court agreed with Hazelwood, saying that because Hazelwood mostly paid for the newspaper, they could control what was in it. Kuhlmeier and the rest appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which reversed the lower court’s decision, saying that nope, the newspaper was a “public forum” that went beyond the walls of the school.
And wouldn’t you know it, this time Hazelwood appealed to the Supreme Court. It heard oral arguments on October 13, 1987. Yep, by this time the girls had long graduated from Hazelwood East High School. Still fighting, though. I like it.
#supremecourtbriefs #apgov #firstamendment
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I remember a student in my high school saying the strict dress code violated Freedom of Expression. Found out later the school bribed her not to take them to court so they could keep it. I have no idea who would have won, but the school was definitely obsessed enough with their dress code to have taken it to the Supreme Court.
The school would win, as long as the dress code doesn't prevent students from wearing non-intrusive things like armbands for example that express their political opinions or religious garments like the Niqab. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), is one that applies here
Don't dress codes violate the establishment clause? They impose modesty standards on students who might not be religious.
@@AB-sr4xd modesty isn’t always religious. Not disagreeing with your point just saying
Dress codes could maybe violate the equal protection clause
Yay! New Supreme Court episode!
Glad you're excited. :)
@@iammrbeat a new one please
Well, this brief was quite brief
Yeah, sometimes there is no need to further complicate a fairly straight forward story. :)
that is one reson why you are great, simple and quick, other Historians will make a half hour vid
Mr. beat has done it again. He has made another great video.
Aw thanks! :D
@@iammrbeat Np
He allways does great videos that is what is awsome about him
I quite agree.
It’s kind of funny that the principal tried to censor it because he didn’t want anyone to see it but the St. Louis Post Dispatch published the articles during the case and in turn a lot more people ended up seeing It than probably would have if he had just approved it.
Exactly!
Streisand effect
@@iammrbeat Would you say that he removed the liability from the school though? It could be defamation if the school published it right?
@@Jenkowelten Exactly. When you try to prevent people from seeing something, chances are many will see it who never would have otherwise.
he didn't want students to see it, though
This case happened because the principal didn't tell them that he removed the articles from the paper. He could've just told them.
True!
I know these don't get a lot of view for the effort, but thank you for making them! One of my favorite video series ever. I always look forward to seeing the next one :-)
I agree
Glad you like them! I'm sorry I don't release them as much as I used to.
Love these cases!!
Well I'm glad you are. :)
Do you agree with the Supreme Court in this case?
Also, which Supreme Court case should I cover next for this series?
Planned Parenthood v Casey, please
Lawrence v Texas
Mr. Beat, can you please make a video on this Supreme Court case. Thank you very much.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozawa_v._United_States
I forgot about that case!
I don’t agree with the decision because the newspaper was only sponsored by the school, it wasn’t of the school.
Could you PLEASE do United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. ? considering that ruling has recently been repelled
That's a great suggestion!
if the school was sponsoring it and financing it, they could restrict it. if they were forbidden from restricting from talking about certain topics, they could just refuse to sponsor the whole thing altogether
Great point.
absolutely not
Always appreciate the consistent quality in all your videos Mr. Beat! This was another great one. Love the Supreme Court Briefs!
Well thanks for the kind words! :)
These are always my favorite videos of yours. Thanks for the upload!
Glad you like them!
Every video is so well done and I think I have watched at least 20 videos in the past three days! Also, the music is awesome!
I just learned about this case in class... coincidence?
Woah, which class are you in?
I was in Journalism!
@@endemic_ But of course. I was in Journalism for two years in high school, too. Oh, and I got that Journalism degree in college. lol
Mr. Beat nice
I love this segment about supreme court. Your diagram was easy to understand and fun.
This series is my favorite of your channel.
Wow, thanks!
Yay! New Supreme Court Brief!
WOOT
Mr Beat seriously should start dividing them in clean briefs and dirty briefs... This was a pretty big streak in the bottoms department.
I live in Hazelwood and this is the first time I ever heard of the case. I previously thought that Dred Scott was the only Supreme Court decision made in Missouri. Awesome video!
Love you mr.beat
Well thanks. :D
With free speech being increasingly used (generally by conservatives) as a partisan political topic, these Supreme Court briefs are a great resource for learning about legal restrictions on free speech and the justifications behind them.
Yeah, that's been one refreshing development in recent years. Conservatives historically have not been so vocal about freedom of speech, but since 2016 that has dramatically changed.
I am a conservative, but I am a staunch 1st Amendment advocate in almost all its forms. As an originalist, I loathe these kind of rulings. This shouldn't be a political thing.
@@matthewtullis7205 All rulings are inherently political, whether you want them to be or not.
While I respect the conservatives I have to support the Liberals on the issue of free speech. The conservative governors have recently been outlawing books from schools and personally I don’t think any book should be banned. Not even the Communist manifesto or Mein Kampf as those books help you realize how even the worst people were humans and you could become a monster like Hitler. Meanwhile the Liberals only cancel people on Twitter and don’t actually threaten peoples first amendment rights.
@@iammrbeat I am amazed that people look at the rulings made by one of the three major political bodies of the United States and go: "this shouldn't be political". It's like "political" becomes synonymous with "decision I don't like".
Nice series from France! I wonder how the school Journalists have fared (did they become reporters? What an interesting case to have under your belt as school news paper reporter )
I love your supreme court briefs! love your channel and you really got me interested in american history and i'm not even american, great work keep it up
Well thank you! :)
bro thank you so much I have to write a paper on a supreme court case for AP Gov and I chose this one like a month ago and hadn't done any work on it until now. it is due in about 7 hours and I could not understand the actual court case itself with out this video.
Thank you, in my English class I have to do a research paper over this and I wasn't understanding it very well.
My alma mater. Class of ‘03. Now I live in Topeka. Thanks, Beat.
Holy crap, that's awesome!
Dear Mr. Beat you should do a Supreme Court Briefs video on the land disputes between New York and New Jersey. CGP GREY did some research but I want to know more about the court cases.
I watched the two ads at the beginning to support hope that helps lol
Favorite series!! Yay!
As a school student myself, I disagree with the Supreme Court's ruling in this case. I think that in my humble opinion, it violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and that we school students should not be censored when writing in the high school newspaper, especially when we talk about teen pregnancy and divorce, which I think is something that should be talked about in school.
I saw a charts once where teen pregnancy went down by the 1960 and 1970 but by the 1980 it stop dorping and didn't down until the 2000s the hell happened in the 80s and 90s that stop the rate for droping
I would assume a decline in birth control usage and a very socially conservative culture during that time.
Different times but you have freedom to make your own paper.
@@iammrbeat You're certainly correct Mr Beat. The problem is that liberalism vs conservatism shouldn't even be taken into consideration when talking about free speech and civil liberties, however, the judicial system has tended to include it's bias in many court cases since the founding of our country.
As the Former President of the student journalism board, a actually have to disagree. The Editorials in the paper were always the talk of the town, and if extremely sensitive or embarrassing subjects are in it, they can disrupt learning. Another thing is, the school isn’t forced to pay for the paper at all. The Principal could’ve shut us down, so given that, it seems fair to not run an article about teen pregnancy.
I love this case! It’s really interesting that most courts past the Warren court wouldn’t normally curb free speech UNLESS it has to do with protecting students.
Please do Planned Parenthood V Casey next! The “imposing an undue burden” standard is so important for interpreting reproductive rights in recent cases.
Yeah, I'd argue Planned Parenthood v. Casey is even more important than Roe v. Wade. Great suggestion.
Mr. Beat great series! It’s my favorite of yours.
Let’s gooo another Supreme Court case video! I embeber this case from by AP GOV class (:
Yeah, it's certainly an important one!
Great video, you should cover Lyng v Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association. I’m having to learn about it for my American religion class.
We don’t deserve Mr.Beats
i use to live 4 hours from st louis in a small town called greentop now i live in florida and i love it
Can't believe my school linked a Mr. Beat video hahaha
Hi Mr. Beat. I hope you are following the latest Supreme Court case involving first amendment rights of students in schools. This is from a public school in PA. It is coming up in the next term of SC and is considered the most high profile student case since the Des Moines school district case. I hope to see a video about it when the time comes.
Once again, a wonderful video
Thank you! Cheers!
My teacher just played this video in class!
Your teacher gets an A+
Mr. Beat, please do a Supreme Court Briefs video on Viacom v. CZcams.
Thanks for the video!
Reminds me of that one Malcom in the Middle episode.
This was great!
Can you do Another Supreme Court Briefs Next week?
I already have my videos planned out weeks in advance, but I do have more planned of this series in the coming months!
can you make video about virginia vs west virginia comparison
Interesting video, good work
Glad you enjoyed it!
I do agree that the Courts got this one right. A publication no matter the source should get final say in what is published in their publication as any speech made in its publication will be seen as speech endorsed by the publication itself and not the writer. If a private News corporation doesn't want to report on an issue for any reason, they have the right not to, even if their staff has already written the story. That doesn't prohibit the staff from publishing it elsewhere however.
This case shouldn't be viewed as carte blanche to Censor anything or everything at school, just for the school to not have this speech portrayed as its position by printing it in the school newspaper.
@Mr.Beat could you do Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)? I think its an important one
I already did!
you should make a video on the most influential first ladies!!!
Imagine being so petty about a school newspaper that you bring it to the Supreme Court. Think about what other cases they could have heard.
Well done video Mr. BEAT. But I disagree with the decision the Supreme Court made. Free Speech should be available to everyone, regardless of age.
They didn't lose the case because of their age. They lost due to ownership of the newspaper.
I love Supreme Court Briefs!!!
I wish I could have political discussions with you, you're one of my favorite youtubers by far
I always like the gavel animations in these.
Any business that publishes has a right to editorial control, so why wouldn't a state entity have the same right over its publications?
If the school pays for the printing of the paper, than they have absolute right to deny certain stories. Nice Mr. Beat.
Would you ever quit teaching to do CZcams full time?
Yes. I'd still be teaching, just online to a broader audience. Once it becomes financially viable I'll do it.
That way we will have more videos but sadly a bunch of kids will lose the opportunity to be teached by such an awsome guy
A lot of students cannot afford the distribution. State funding for public education should not hold leverage over the students that apply provided materials for controversial but free speech activities.
Kind of off subject but Mr Beat's voice sounds a lot like Company Man's voice.🤔
Why did they sue the school? That response seems a bit extreme under the circumstances
That is interesting
I go over this case with my Government students every semester!
I remember reading a fictional children's book about this years ago which I'm only now realizing was based on a true story.
DO A VIDEO ON PROJECT BLUE BOOK!
Yeah, a lot of folks have been suggesting that.
President During this time: Ronald Reagan
Chief Justice: William Rehnquist
Argued October 13, 1987
Decided January 13, 1988
Case Duration: 92 Days
Decision: 5-3 in favor of Hazelwood (Marshall, Blackmun, Brennan Jr.)
Did Kuhlmeier et al bring up at the Supreme Court the fact that the omission of the controversial articles was done without their prior notification? It's one thing to rely on school sponsorship to justify censorship. Doing so without letting the authors know in advance feels like an abuse of power.
Damn, how but hurt must u be to sue ur school cause they didn’t put ur article in the school newspaper?
Wwwwoooo supreme courts briefs is back baby!!!
YAS :D
You do realize Real Madrid Noble just the name of the Marvel Comics knuckle for Superman the century nice
Hello Mr. Beat ,
How are you doing?
Good. Thanks for asking. How are you doing?
@@iammrbeat Good! Getting alot of reading done in these lockdown period.
Love what you do ❤️
I mean, the judgement does make sense, since if it's school sponsored, it may give the school a "bad name" if the district is conservative, and since there was no ban about talking about those topics or making photocopies independently and distributing them. But on the uni level.....no, since students pay so much to attend college that one should consider the uni the government and the students taxpayers, and thus, it's their own money sponsoring it.
well i just saw an ad about the defense of the fourth amendment, talk about tactical advertising ?
Was it for the ACLU?
Mr. Beat no just some other group, i forgot
In the 60’s & 70’s everything that was “establishment” was met with “anti” it was just a way of life. Cutting class by many was considered Flipping the proverbial bird at the principal or who ever chased those escaping. Smoking in the bathrooms & not just the regular stuff either was just to say if you tell “us” we can’t, then we will. I wasn’t that enlightened. My family were essentially immigrants & it was not done. I agree with the students in this because they have reasons & sex in high school, teen pregnancy & the communication crash needed & still needs to be available. Especially with the STD’s , date drugs. The students are smarter than they are given credit for.
By pretending that sex, pregnancy & parents divorcing or living in a violent household doesn’t exist just makes it harder for students or families in need reach out for help. The domestic violence I have have witnessed & even been a victim. I was fortunate my family held tight together. But all the same I was not allowed to talk about it & it does need to be talked about. Those students may have had first hand knowledge as well.
We can’t keep shoving it under the rug, because the mound gets too high & we never get over it
Comparing Czechia and Slovakia
4:29 The sign states: "You Don't know Anyone Dumber Than (Trump)"
I watch your vids for fun lol
I've been to hazelwood, that place defiantly would be the place that would have a case go to the supreme court.
Are you from St. Louis?
@@iammrbeat Yes
I’ve lived in Clayton and now reside in Ladue
Can you Compare three countries
It would have to be a special circumstance. I'm afraid it might complicate the video too much if I were to do so.
Hi
Hi
Man, that's something. Had no idea that there's censorship with students of free speech. Interesting piece. I like it. Students have a right to know what is being said. Much like us citizens. First amendment rules!
I'm always excited to see students fighting for their First Amendment rights.
@@iammrbeat indeed sir.
Wow! Both White and Stevens sided with Scalia.
Rule Number 1 if there is a new video about a Supreme Court Case by Mr Beat: GIVE A LIKE
Rule Number 2: If someone leaves a nice comment, Mr. Beat gives the comment a heart.
Mr. Beat now THIS is a great rule
Fact: we all love Mr. Beat right guys......right?.... OH SNAP I forgot the 100,000 subs celebration video, but a mojority loves him that is for sure
He shouldve simply asked em
Colombia in Venezuela please
It's on my list!
They are probably verified on twitter
Great video Mr. Beat!
Also I have a really good feeling that Trump will win Ohio, Florida, ( did you see the big Boaters for Trump parade in Tampa) and Wisconsin. I also have a good feeling he will get reelected. I feel like Biden, Harris and the Democrats are to radical for those states. There too radical for me too.
Thanks buddy. I do predict that Trump wins in Wisconsin and Ohio. However, I think he loses Florida, which almost guarantees a Biden victory.
@@iammrbeat I'm from Florida. With recent changes in voting law, I agree, I think Biden will win Florida.
I think If the school went so far as to prevent the students from privately reprinting the articles, and distributing it all themselves, then I think that would be a clear violation of their free speech. I personally don't believe the material is objectionable, but I do think the school was within their rights to remove the articles.
The school should definitely have been transparent about it to the students though.
I tend to agree with this analysis.
POV you forgot the s in mr beast
Letting a school choose what their students are allowed to say is very scummy, but it's within the laws of our land, therefor this was the righty decision.
Remember. The state says we are allowed to have freedom of speech! But I only from the state or gov. But actually no you can't speak out against the state or gov.
🙏Please Make a Video Jakarta vs Surabaya The Largest City and Second Largest City in Indonesia "The Largest Archipelagic Country in the World"
When you read what the first amendment says it restricts Congress not school principals. "Congress shall make no law...".
But don't forget that the 14th Amendment later applied the First Amendment to the states...and thus state laws...and thus state officials.
why are there underwears tho?
Nothing dictates morality like cold hard cash
I'm having trouble following where you're going with that point.
@@iammrbeat I guess it might not apply to this situation like I thought it did since I was thinking about how the funding of the newspaper by the school could override the freedom of press. However thinking deeper it is the school's paper regardless of who's writing the stories (students or faculty) and they have final say in what goes in it. The reporters could still keep the story in if they ran their own publication. My original comment applies more to the theoretical "would you vote against your conscience in exchange for a payment" so it's pretty irrelevant to this situation
Great Vid! My late father was a high school newspaper advisor. I recently found nasty letters from parents because he did not sensor certain content from the newspaper, but it was a movie review of Carnal Knowledge. I also remember having an interview I did with two outrageous girls for my high school newspaper censored in 1974. Never figured out who deleted my reference to gay bars. Finally, in college the student newspaper went off-campus to ensure their independence which has grown and continues to this day chico.newsreview.com
What about a porno magazine? Should there be a limit?
No I don't AGREE
They should protect the 1st amendment rights of students because in school the more my teachers shut me up for no reason the more I think there violate the 1st amendment rights of students!
I don’t agree with the decision but at least they gave us the right to make are own
As a Brit looking in your whole "freedom of speech" thing doesn't look very free when I hear about cases like this.
Forgive me if I’m out of line, do Brits not have a sort of freedom of speech?
Police officers are/were stupid.
Alex G They do, in their empire days they didn’t.
@@alexanderg1297 We do have rights to freedom of speech - but we don't have a codified Constitution like most countries do.
It's well understood that all rights have limitations in law and precedent.
Cases like this one just confuse me because the 1st amendment says nothing about schools, yet those kid's rights were obviously restricted.
@@DylanSargesson It's the religious right crying about sex. The religious right (though losing influence as of late) has had a lot of power throughout this country's history. It's why a supposedly secular government prints "In God We Trust" on all of its cash.