Morse v. Frederick's New Perspective on Schools' Basic Educational Missions and the Implications for Gay-Straight Alliance First Amendment Jurisprudence

32 Pages Posted: 12 Feb 2008 Last revised: 8 Jul 2021

See all articles by Jordan Blair Woods

Jordan Blair Woods

University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

In Morse v. Frederick, the United States Supreme Court adopted a new rule permitting schools to limit student expression that is reasonably viewed to promote illegal drug use. The purpose of this Article is to demonstrate that Morse could alter the First Amendment analysis in gay-straight alliance (GSA) litigation to make it easier for LGBTQ students to form GSAs under the First Amendment. Prior to Morse, the Supreme Court increasingly deferred to schools' educational missions to grant schools increasing authority to limit student speech. In Morse, however, the Court shifted its tone and harshly criticized the notion that schools may limit student speech merely because they view it as antithetical to their basic educational missions. This Article argues that the Court's shift should be viewed as a rejection of the basic educational mission argument. Recently, schools have prohibited GSAs by alleging that they violate their educational missions. Therefore, the Court's rejection of the basic educational mission argument should strengthen claims by LGBTQ students that prohibitions of GSAs violate the First Amendment.

Keywords: sexual orientation, gay, education, LGBT, gay straight alliance, first amendment, free speech, free expression

Suggested Citation

Woods, Jordan Blair, Morse v. Frederick's New Perspective on Schools' Basic Educational Missions and the Implications for Gay-Straight Alliance First Amendment Jurisprudence (2008). Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, Vol. 18, p. 282, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1092352

Jordan Blair Woods (Contact Author)

University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 210176
Tucson, AZ 85721-0176
United States

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