Pico vs island trees court case

Cleveland Board of Education v. La Fleur, 414 U.S. 632 (1974).

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The name and the parties of the court decision

A citation (APA 6th Edition)

Facts of the case (what actually happened, the controversy)

Procedural History (what events within the court system led to the present case)

Issue (summary)

Holding

Judgement

The following is an exemplar document that you may use to pattern your Case Brief assignment.

Case:

Supreme Court of the United States

Board of Education of Island Trees v. Pico

Argued March 2, 1982

Decided June 25, 1982

Facts:

The school board of Island Trees in New York attended a conference where a list of

questionable books was presented. Following the conference, the Board checked their libraries

to see if they had any of the questionable books. Then a committee made up of parents and

staff was created to review the list of questionable books. The Board acted against the

recommendation of the committee and ordered that eleven questionable books be removed

from the libraries. The superintendent had two books placed back on the shelves bringing the

total number of banned books to nine. The Board ruled the books were “anti-American, anti-

Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy” (Supreme, 1982). Steven Pico, a senior, and four

classmates filed a federal lawsuit against the school board for the removal of the nine books.

The student’s argued the school board’s action violated freedom of speech in the First

Amendment.

Procedural History:

The U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the Board since the removal of books was “not based on religious principles, but on its conservative education philosophy... although the removal was content-based, there was no constitutional violation” (Supreme, 1982). The students appealed this decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit Court reversed the District Court’s verdict and remanded for trial to hear the student’s allegations. The Board petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a writ of certiorari.

Issue:

Did the school board’s decision to ban nine books from their libraries violate the student’s

right to freedom of speech in the First Amendment?

Holding:

The Supreme Court in its 5-4 decision affirmed the Second Circuit Court’s ruling that

the school board did violate the student’s First Amendment right by removing books from the

school library.

Judgement:

In its decision, the Supreme Court cited Tinker v. Des Moines, “Students do not

shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate”

(Supreme, 1982). Therefore, school districts cannot remove books from the libraries based on

their content. However, Justice Byron White wrote his own concurring opinion and stated,

“There is no necessity at this point for discussing the extent to which the First Amendment limits

the school board's discretion to remove books from the school libraries” (Supreme, 1982).

Therefore, no legal precedent has been set on the issue of school districts banning books in

school libraries and schools continue today to ban books for religious reasons and content

objections.

Citations:

Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico by Pico. (n.d.).

Oyez. Retrieved October 6, 2018, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1981/80-2043

Island Trees Sch. Dist. V. Pico By Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982). Retrieved October 6, 2018, from

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/457/853/

BOARD OF EDUCATION, ISLAND TREES UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 26, ET AL.

PICO, BY HIS NEXT FRIEND PICO, ET AL., 457 U.S. 853, 102 S. Ct. 2799, 73 L. Ed. 2d

435, 1982 U.S. LEXIS 8, 8 Media L. Rep. 1721 (Supreme Court of the United States June 25,

1982, Decided ). Retrieved from https://advance-lexis (Links to an external site.) .com.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/api/document?collec