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Plessy v. Ferguson
On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy boarded a train from New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana. He took a seat in a whites-only car. Homer refused to leave the section when the conductor asked him to. He was arrested and he filed a petition against the presiding judge, Hon. John H. Ferguson. Plessy's argued that his constitutional rights were violated. The argument was rejected and the doctrine "separate but equal" was established. -
Title IX (Force v. Pierce City)
Thirteen year old Nicole Force wanted to play football at Pierce City Junior High School. The student was unable to tryout because the tryouts were restricted to boys only. Force claimed the school's policy violated her Fourteenth Amendment rights. In August 15, 1983, the school ruled in Nicole's favor that there was no reason to prevent girls from trying out. -
Brown v. Board of Education
In 1951, after his daughter was denied entrance to an all whites elementary school, Oliver Brown filed a class action suit against the board of education of Topeka, Kansas. Brown claimed that schools for black students were not equal to the white schools. The United States District court in Kansas agreed. In May 17, 1954, the decision was made that the doctrine of "separate but equal" had no place in public education. -
Tinker v. Des Moines
In December 16, 1965, thirteen year old Mary Beth Tinker and a group of students decided to wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam war. Tinker and four other students were asked to take them off, but they refused. As a result, they got suspended. After the holidays, the students returned to school wearing black clothing for the remainder of the year and they filed a lawsuit. On February 24, 1969, the court ruled in favor of Tinker and the group of students. -
Wisconsin v. Yoder
In 1971, in New Glarus, Wisconsin, three Amish students from three different families stopped attending the New Glarus High School because of their parents' religious beliefs. One of the fathers was Jonas Yoder. He got convicted in the Green County Court for taking his child out of school. On May 15, 1972, the court ruled that Amish students could not be placed under compulsory education The Amish's freedom of religion was violated. -
Lau v. Nichols
In 1971, San Francisco's school system had 2,856 Chinese students who were not fluent in English. Only about 1,000 of the students were receiving English instruction. The parents of the students filed a lawsuit against Alan H. Nichols, the president of the school district. The claim was that not all Chinese students were learning English. In January 21, 1974, the court ruled that the school district lacked supplemental language instruction for students with limited English proficiency. -
Plyler v. Doe
In 1975, the Texas legislature authorized local school districts to deny enrollment in public schools to immigrant students who were not legally admitted to the United States. Soon after, a group of Mexican students who could not establish that they were legally admitted brought a class action lawsuit against the policy. In June 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot deny students a free public education on account of immigration. The policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Board of Education v. Rowley
Amy Rowley was a deaf student in the Hendrick Hudson Central School District of Montrose, New York. Her parents met with the principal at Furnace Woods Elementary School to discuss accommodations for the daughter. The school said Amy did not need a sign language interpreter. Then, the Rowleys filed a law suit against the school district. On June 29, 1982, the District Court ruled that the school violated the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. -
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
In St. Louis County, Missouri, Hazelwood East High School Principal Robert Reynolds was reviewing the school’s student newspaper. He decided to have certain pages pulled out because of the sensitive content in two of the articles. Student reporters Cathy Kuhlmeier, Leslie Smart, and Leanne Tippett felt that this censorship was a direct violation of their First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court ruled that Principal Reynolds had the right to remove anything sensitive from the student newspaper. -
Chipman v. Grant County School District
Somer Chipman and Chasity Glass were excluded from Grant County High School's National Honor Society after being pregnant and giving birth. Both students had grade point averages above 3.5. The issue was that Chipman and Glass were being rejected because they had premarital sex. On December 29, 1998, the District Court of Kentucky admitted Chipman and Glass to the National Honor Society. -
Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe
During a football game, a student council elective delivered a prayer. One Mormon and one Catholic family filed a lawsuit against the Santa Fe Independent School District. On June 19, 2000, the court ruled that initiating a prayer during an event was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. -
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
In Cleveland, Ohio, the state established vouchers for tuition assistance to qualifying low-income students (were given preference) who lived within any school district. Doris Simmons-Harris filed a suit against the voucher programs in the Cleveland City School District. Susan Tave Zelman, Superintendent of Public Instruction in Ohio responded to the lawsuit. On June 27, 2002, a federal district court ruled that the voucher program was in violation of the establishment clause.
