Social media companies are increasingly being called to account for how their apps are affecting young people. Robert Kim explores "In re: Social Media Addiction," a lawsuit that combines multiple cases that have been brought against social media companies for their addictive effects. The cases illustrate the tension between product…

Over the last 3 years, the advocacy organization Speech First has filed six lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of bias response teams on the grounds that they violate free speech. Bias response teams are university-wide committees that respond to reports of racially charged incidents on college campuses to promote institutional goals of…

Electronic communication plays a significant role in most schools and in all of our personal lives as well. The legal question of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable electronic speech for students that is constructed and delivered totally off-campus on such platforms such as Snapchat, Tic Toc, Facebook or Meta, U-Tube, and regular email,…

In "Garcetti v. Ceballos" (2006), the Supreme Court of the United States held that public employees are not protected by the First Amendment when they speak pursuant to their official duties. The dissenting justices raised the question of how this precedent might be inappropriately applied to faculty at public colleges and universities.…

As society becomes increasingly dependent on technology, school leaders must navigate the evolution of websites, resources, and platforms, including social media, as part of their responsibility to facilitate a safe and productive learning environment for students. This article reviews both constitutional and case law as a means of informing…

In "Carson v. Makin," the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, if a state offers tuition assistance for students to attend private schools, then requiring that those private schools be nonsectarian violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Robert Kim discusses how this case aligns with other decisions related to the free…

In the landmark 1969 "Tinker v. Des Moines" case, the Supreme Court ruled school districts could censor student speech if it caused a material and substantial disruption to the educational process or if the speech infringed upon the rights of others. Since then, the Supreme Court has also allowed schools to abridge students' speech…

Background/Context: In the 1973 "Rodriguez" decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not guarantee a substantive federal right to education. So far, this holding has not been adequately contextualized with many other statements the Court has made concerning the nature of education in the constitutional order. For…

The full reach of the U.S. Supreme court's 2020 ruling in "Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue" has yet to be seen, but it has the potential to reshape the school-choice landscape. The ruling, which prohibited Montana from excluding students at religious schools from a tax-credit scholarship program, will figure prominently in many…

Free speech jurisprudence is caught between crediting the First Amendment rights of students when they resemble adults or restricting such rights when students seemingly act as children. In "Morse v. Frederick" (2007), the Supreme Court ruled against Joseph Frederick and his "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner because Frederick's speech…

US colleges and universities have well-documented cultures of self-censorship and oppression of disfavored views. In contrast, free expression is consistent with campus values of toleration, diversity, and inclusion. External forces such as lawsuits and legislation can help protect free expression, but lasting change must come from a shift in…

The problem is the widespread practice by many campuses in defining community membership in ways that deny their students the civil liberties and civil rights all other Americans are guaranteed. Thus, when forty-year old veterans enroll for even one part-time course, they may find that First and Fourteenth Amendment rights existing off campus no…

This article is a summary discussion of the main issues faced by faculty at private, often church-sponsored, universities who sought to be represented by a union in collective bargaining with their employers. The discussion begins by tracing the origins of the rule that faculty at private universities are managers and not employees under the aegis…

On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court held, in "Espinoza v. Montana," that the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause precludes states from excluding religious schools from private school choice programs. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded: "A State need not subsidize private education. But once a…

Business law and legal environment textbooks typically devote a page or two to the tort of invasion of privacy, describing the four versions of this tort, including "appropriation of identity." The Clarkson textbook notes that "An individual's right to privacy normally includes the right to the exclusive use of her or his…