Arc of 1st Amendment Free Speech Clause Jurisprudence -- Students

Key Questions:

• Established the Tinker Test:
  • [non-distruptive] In wearing armbands, the petitioners were quiet and passive.
    
  • [non-impinging on rights of others] They were not disruptive, and did not impinge upon the rights of others.
    
• Tinker constrained by Morse v. Frederick to outside of school-sanctioned and school-supervised event, regardless of location. and not prohibitable content: illegal drug use.
• Further limitations barred under Mahanoy Area School District v B.L. (see Alito Concurrance).

Mahanoy Area School District v B.L. (2021)

A student's off-campus posts on Snapchat, criticizing her school and containing vulgar language,
are not subject to regulation by the school;
the posts contained no special features, such as threats or bullying,
that would place them outside the First Amendment’s ordinary protection.

Morse v. Frederick (2007)

Added constraint on student speech based upon school-sanctioned and school-supervised event, regardless of location.
Added constraint on student speech based upon content: illegal drug use.

Hazelwood School Dist. v. Kuhlmeier (1988)

Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser (1986)

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)

Established the Tinker Test:

• [non-distruptive] In wearing armbands, the petitioners were quiet and passive.
  
• [non-impinging on rights of others] They were not disruptive, and did not impinge upon the rights of others.
  

A prohibition against expression of opinion, without any evidence that the rule is necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others, is not permissible under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Must not rely on an “undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance.”
It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.