Thursday, October 28, 2010

Student Rights NJ

In the NJ case of C.H. v. Bridgeton Board of Education the US District Court in Camden upheld a student's right to "silent protest". In this case a student wished to show her oppostion to abortion. She planned to wear an armband that read "life" and to distribute literature to other students. She sought "official permission" prior to her protest and provided a copy of the literature she wanted to hand out. In October of 2009 the school informed her that her request was denied. She sought the help of the ACLU of NJ and took her case to court where she won. The court ruled that this was not the school establishing religious belief but a student and "not a person vested with the authority of government" who wished to exercise her First Amendment right to free speech. References were made to the original student rights case of Tinker v. Des Moines.
(Source: "ACLU-NJ fights for activists rigtht to wear beliefs about abortion on her sleeve". The American Civil Liberties Union of NJ, 2nd quarter of 2010).

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