On September 9, 2009, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that officials from Everett School District #2 in Mill Creek, Washington did not violate student Kathryn Nurre's constitutional rights to free speech by denying the Jackson High School Wind Ensemble the opportunity to perform an instrumental version of Franz Biebl's "Ave…

An analysis of the Supreme Court's First Amendment decisions under Chief Justice Warren Burger does not indicate any pattern of repudiation of doctrinal advances made by earlier courts. Like its predecessors, the Burger Court has dealt most frequently with First Amendment cases requiring definition and interpretation of government abridgement. In…

Provides a list of terms and the corresponding definitions pertaining to the First Amendment. Focuses on concepts such as, but not limited to, freedom, ratification, separation of church and state, and Constitution that are used in the articles and teaching strategies throughout this issue of "Update on Law-Related Education." (CMK)

The difficulties of defining academic freedom are noted in an exploration of recent judicial attempts to define the scope of teachers' First Amendment rights in the area of intramural speech. The exhaustion of administrative remedies in cases brought under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 (a basic statute in such cases) is also discussed. (JT)

Examines attitudes about and exposure to sexually explicit materials for 663 predominantly Caucasian college students (52.4% males and 47.6% females). Most agree on a general definition of pornography and think that sexually explicit materials should be available to adults. College students do not seem more liberal than the general population.…

This article outlines the significant legal decisions regarding collective bargaining in Catholic schools, identifies the governance structures employed in Catholic schools and the methods of translating these governance structures into documents required by civil law, and concludes with the citation of two recent court decisions that demonstrate…