Anti-Abortion Pamphlet Barred From School
The Tallahassee Democrat reports:
Cypress Lake Middle School eighth-grader Michelle Heinkel wanted to hand out the literature to classmates on a "day of remembrance" for aborted fetuses despite being barred last year because the Lee County school district's blanket policy bans student distribution of pamphlets. ... The suit said the girl "has a sincere religious belief that abortion is wrong, and is sinful," and she wanted to distribute literature about its dangers.
Heinkel's lawyer argues that the district's policy is a "restraint on free speech," and that is true - but that doesn't mean that it is unconstitutional. Students in public school don't have full free speech rights, they just don't have all free speech rights removed once they walk through the doors.
The Supreme Court has ruled that students have some right to what might be called "passive" expressions - for example, wearing black arm bands. In such situations students are expressing an idea without also interrupting what anyone else is doing or getting "in their face." Distributing pamphlets, however, is much more active.
Other students and parents may not be justified in worrying about what sorts of arm bands students might be wearing, but they would be justified in not wanting to be confronted by a different pamphlet every time they turn a corner in the hallway. Public schools are supposed to be for learning, not pamphleteering. Heinkel can talk one-on-one with other students about abortion and she can distribute her pamphlets outside of school, but doing in the school halls strikes me as a step too far - and something that administrators not only can restrict, but actually should restrict.
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In actuality, your opinion is contrary to the ACLU’s guidelines on what the first amendment allows in school. They state, “you can express your opinions orally and in writing - in leaflets or on buttons, armbands or T-shirts.
You have a right to express your opinions as long as you do so in a way that doesn’t “materially and substantially” disrupt classes or other school activities.”
Katelyn: it depends upon how the pamphlets are handed out. Schools can impose restrictions on the time, manner, and place that they are handed out.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the district court and the student won. Lee County has been ordered to pay more than $107,000 in attorneys fees and costs. Bravo for student free speech!!