Meyer vs. Nebraska

• Argued: February 23, 1923 Decided: June 4, 1923

• Instructor at Zion parochial school, unlawfully taught the subject of German to Raymond Parpart

• The student was 10 years old and had not successfully passed the 8th grade

• School was maintained by zion Eveangelical Lutheran Congregation

• Meyer then appealed to the Nebraska supreme court saying his right to teach was denied

Nebraska Laws that were violated

• Section 1. No person, individually or as a teacher, shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language other than the English language.

• Sec. 2. Languages, other than the English language, may be taught as languages only after a pupil shall have attained and successfully passed the eighth grade as evidenced by a certificate of graduation issued by the county superintendent of the county in which the child resides.

• Sec. 3. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25), nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) or be confined in the county jail for any period not exceeding thirty days for each offense.

• Sec. 4. Whereas, an emergency exists, this act shall be in force from and after its passage and approval.

• Teacher intentionally taught German to someone who did not pass the 8th grade

• 14th amendment violated- No state shall violate persons right to life, liberty or property without due process

• Significance- The supreme court implied that the right to privacy was implied in the due process clause of the 14th amendment

• Decision- Under the 14th amendment meyer had the right to teach, and parents had the right to have their kids learn German

Long term Affects

• States ability was restricted to have complete control over the curriculum in private school

• Helped shape the idea of right to privacy

• Used as references in Griswold vs. Connecticut (1965) and Roe vs. Wade(1973)

Roe vs. Wade

Abortion rights

History of abortion laws

• During the late 19th century and the beginning o the 20th century most states strictly regulated abortion

• Some states started to relax abortion regulations

• Many poor women still found it very hard to travel a great distance to another state to get an abortion

History of court case

• Jane Roe, was an unmarried and pregnant Texas resident in 1970. 

• She wanted to have an abortion, but Texas abortion law made it a felony to abort a fetus unless the mothers life was at risk.

• Roe filed suit against Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County and the case made it all the way to the supreme court.

The court decision

• The court ruled in favor of Roe, and stated that the previous abortion law was unconstitutional because it violated the 14th amendment due process that the government must respect the rights of people.

Impact of the case

• It is legal for a woman to get an abortion if she wants

• Abortion became an extremely controversial issue

• This topic affected many of the fallowing elections.

Hazelwood v KuhlmeierCase summary

• Hazelwood v Kulmeier is a case that is an argument over a student in Hazelwood high school having his first amendment rights violated

• The students were making the final edition of the school paper for their journalism II class: The Spectrum

• They handed their paper to the teacher who gave it to Principle Robert Reynolds to glance at and make sure it didn’t contain anything bad

• As he read it he noticed two issues: pregnant teens and divorces• These two articles had students who were pregnant and had divorced

parents talking about the issue• Principle Reynolds did not like this in the paper and asked the student to

revise it or take it out completely• The students refused to do this because of all the hard work they put into

this final edition of the paper and they would not be able to correctly revise it by the deadline

• The students felt that their first amendment rights were violated and decided to take the case to court

Case Movement and Arguments

US District Court of East Missouri

The students took the case to court• The students’ argument was that

first amendment rights (freedom of speech and press) was violated

• The court disagreed and said that If the school had a good enough reason of it hurting school education they could remove the article and ruled in the school’s favor

• The students refused to give up and appealed the case so it got sent to a lower court

• The lower court had different thoughts of East Missouri’s and felt that the students’ first amendment rights were violated

• Their argument was that although the paper was part of school curriculum, it was considered a public forum

• The court ruled in the students’ favor

• The school then appealed that ruling taking the case to the supreme court

Supreme Courts Final Decision

• The Supreme Court reviewed the case and concluded that the students’ first amendment rights were not violated

• They claimed that the students were under administrative law so the school had the right to decide whether or not the students could publish the school paper or not

• The students argument was not valid because the school was not considered a public forum