1. The Board of Education vs. Pico

3. 31 miles from New York City

4. Created in 1902

5. 2 Elementary Schools, 1 Middle School, 1 High School

7. 2 removed

9. Steven Pico 17 years old Island Trees High School student With several other High School and Junior High students, Pico brought action against the School Board claiming they violated the students First Amendment right to free expression. Pointed out that banning was due purely to the ideologies of School Board members

10. The Court Case The District Court ruled in favor of the School Board Court of Appeals reversed the decision School Board petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court

11. The Court Case Supreme Court came to a 5-4 decision in favor of the students. Majority Opinion Brennan White Marshall Blackmun Stevens Dissenting Opinion Rehnquist O’Connor Burger Powell

12. Ramifications of Board vs. Pico As centers for voluntary inquiry and the dissemination of information, school libraries hold a special affinity with the rights of free speech and press A School Board cannot restrict the availability of books in a school library because they don’t agree with the ideas in the book. ”We are therefore in full agreement … that local school boards must be permitted to establish and apply their curriculum in such a way as to transmit community values…At the same time, however, we have necessarily recognized that the discretion of the States and local school boards in matters of education must be exercised in a manner that comports with the transcendent imperatives of the First Amendment.” -Justice William J. Brennan

13. Sources http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/resources/handout1a.aspx?id=13965 http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0457_0853_ZS.html http://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1981/1981_80_2043 Attribution http://www.flickr.com/photos/whereisyourmind/3508275007/