can my sons school stop him from passing out pamplets on abortion?

Question

my son is in the 11th grade and last june he was told to stop handing out pamplets on abortion and was told by several teachers and the principal that if he brought them back to school he would be written up for violation of church and state. can they legally do this and if not can i have some legel references to back it up thanks alot yall are so helpfull on here

Answer 1

Yes--just as I'm sure you wouldn't want students to pass out anti-war fliers would you?

Answer 2

Well since "separation of church and state" is not in the constitution he has every right to pass out pamphlets for or against abortion; unless otherwise stated in the school's policy.

The separation of church and state was only in our Declaration of Independence. My wife is a teacher and feels that students have certain rights, even as children for freedom of expression, speech and the other rights in our first amendment. All these nimwits that keep mentioning "freedom of speech" have no idea what that constitutional right REALLY means. It doesn't mean that you are allowed to talk and say what you want. It IS limited but specific.

I am not for abortion but I acknowledge why it is legal....I just wish it weren't done as birth control.

Answer 3

If they're a public school, then no. They can't do anything regardless of whether or not the pamphlets contain religious material.


In fact you should threaten to sue for harassment.



McCollum v. Board of Education Dist. 71, 333 U.S. 203 (1948)

Court finds religious instruction in public schools a violation of the establishment clause and therefore unconstitutional.

Engel v. Vitale, 82 S. Ct. 1261 (1962)

Any kind of prayer, composed by public school districts, even nondenominational prayer, is unconstitutional government sponsorship of religion.

Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)

Court finds Bible reading over school intercom unconstitutional and Murray v. Curlett, 374 U.S. 203 (1963) - Court finds forcing a child to participate in Bible reading and prayer unconstitutional.


Lemon v. Kurtzman, 91 S. Ct. 2105 (1971)

Established the three part test for determining if an action of government violates First Amendment's separation of church and state: 1) the government action must have a secular purpose; 2) its primary purpose must not be to INHIBIT OR ADVANCE religion; 3) there must be no excessive entanglement between government and religion.

This last one is the most important one here. The US Government is not allowed to support religion, nor is it allowed inhibit it.

By threatening to do anything they're attemtping to bully/scare your son out of his first amendment rights.

For those that don't know, prayer IS ALLOWED in schools provided it is not supported by the school (spoken over the intercom, out loud by teachers to students, required to be said by a student, hung on school walls by school faculty, etc). If a student wishes to say a prayer during school, and it is in no way supported or required by the school, they're simply exercising their first amendment right.



EDIT:

Also note that if a student does choose to pray during school it cannot be disruptive. Whoever pointed out Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District hit the nail on the head. See the last wiki link in the Source.

Answer 4

The school must have a uniform policy. If other groups have been allowed to pass out pamphlets on issues not related to school then he should be given the same right. If the school, like most schools, prohibits passing out literature not school related then he must not do so.

There's nothing to stop him from standing on public property, off the school grounds, and passing them out.

Answer 5

Yes absolutely they can. It does not impinge upon his 1st amendment rights at all. If it any anyway is a disruption, they can stop him. I suggest you read a few supreme court cases, such as:
Morse v. Frederick, 127 S. Ct. 2618 (2007).
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., 393 U.S. 503 (1969).

Please note that your son's school is really dumb. They cite the wrong reason for being able to do it. It has nothing to do with separation of church & state. It has everything to do with a long line of US Supreme Court Cases, which begin and end with the 2 cases that I cited to you. Please, go look them up at your nearest law library.

Answer 6

The legal reference is the U.S. Constitution.

Your son is in school to get an education not to attempt to force his beliefs on others.

If he wants to hand out pamphlets, he can do it after school on a corner somewhere off of school property.

He is just doing it to get attention anyway. Tell him to join the volley ball team.

Answer 7

Did he have sex with so many girls in school that he had to hand out pamphlets?
If not, It is improper for him to push such a agenda at school.
If you can not see this as an adult ,and guide your kid in the right direction, then you are the one that needs help.
Yes, he is violating the laws that are on the books concerning the separation of church and state.
Abortion is considered as a religious belief not political.

Answer 8

Your son does not shed his constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door, and he is allowed to express his opinions as long as he is not disrupting the educational process. I wouldn't turn this into a Supreme Court case, though. If he, by any stretch is disrupting the educational process, you might hear an obnoxious guffaw from Clarence Thomas at oral arguments.

Church and state? I don't get it. Abortion is not only a religion-based topic.

Answer 9

If these pamplets only deal with abortion, this is a social issue, not a religious one. The school is infringing on his right to the freedom of speech. He should probably go to the police department to obtain permission to pass out literature on public property. If the school continues to give you trouble, you should contact the ACLJ. This is like the conservative version of the ACLU and is a very high-powered group of Constitutional attorneys who look for cases like these. I think they take the case for free if they choose to represent you.

Good luck.
www.aclj.org

Answer 10

The school is bluffing. Separation of Church/State means that the school cannot neither endorse nor prevent individuals from exercising their religious freedom. Preventing a student from distributing literature on school grounds may be permitted, but it can't be limited based on content - it has to apply to *all* literature distribution. Singling your son out for his pamphlet, and letting other people distribute their literature would be a clear violation of church/state (presuming the pamphlets are religous based.) That the school is threatening to "write him up for violation of church and state" is laughble on it's face to any one who has an 11th grade understanding of the Constitution.

There is in my community a religiously based community activist that distributes literature condemning Islam and liberalism. Here is his website - you can read all about his successes at harassing good people that don't deserve him, or your son. The law can't touch either of them.

http://www.cftie.org

Answer 11

yes they can do that since they made such a big deal about prayer in schools and the pledge of alligence things have changed so now it is a violation