| Abstrakt: |
The article focuses on the freedom of speech in the post-September 11 world. Justice Department officials seized the contents of a package mailed between two reporters on the ground that it implicated national security signal an erosion of free speech rights. In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the landmark student censorship case of Kuhlmeier v. Hazelwood School District, holding that a public school has the right to censor a student publication bearing the imprimatur of the school as long as that censorship is reasonably related to a pedagogical concern. The circuit courts have split on the question of whether the Hazelwood holding meant to require viewpoint neutrality. This article examines the current circuit court split regarding the Hazelwood decision and argue that, while evidence indicates that the 1988 Court might have intended to abandon the viewpoint neutrality requirement for school speech, the Court should reinstate the requirement explicitly at the next available opportunity. Further, this article argues that viewpoint discrimination doctrine in the school setting might be clarified by making a distinction between viewpoint discrimination regarding religious speech in a school setting and viewpoint discrimination directed at non-religious speech, which should be strictly forbidden. |
