In Employment Division Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (1990), the Supreme Court ruled that their religious beliefs do not necessarily exempt people from compliance with neutral, generally applicable laws.

In Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004), the Supreme Court faced two issues.

According to the Eleventh Amendment, “The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.”

The infusion of technology into schooling presents an emerging issue for educational officials at all levels. Electronic documents, or e-documents, encompass the entire range of digitized or electronically generated information.

The growth of the personal computer industry and the Internet has ushered in an “information age,” characterized by individual empowerment and the flattening of geographical and temporal barriers to communication and collaboration.

The Eighth Amendment, enacted in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, provides that “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (U.S. Const., Amend. VIII).

At issue in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) was whether a Louisiana statute titled “Balanced Treatment Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Institutions Act” was unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits states from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

The Education Law Association (ELA), founded in 1954 as the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education (NOLPE), provides an unbiased forum for the dissemination of information on current issues in education law.

Beginning in the 1970s, parents sought to render school boards, teachers, and other educational staff members liable for the inability of their children to perform well in school, charging a variety of school officials with educational malpractice in disputes over pedagogical methods and student outcomes.

Through most of American history, all early childhood education was provided at home since school systems did not assume any responsibility to educate children prior to first grade.

Basic procedural due process in disputes over the dismissal of teachers usually includes notice of intended actions, the right to some explanation for proposed adverse employment actions, and the dismissed individuals’ rights to respond to the planned action.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) gives parents of a student with disabilities the right to request a due process hearing on any matter concerning the delivery of a free appropriate public education (FAPE), such as the identification, evaluation, and placement of the child.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees every person within the jurisdiction of the United States protection against arbitrary government action through the Due Process Clause.

Based on precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court, dual systems of public education were those that operated separate and distinct schools for students who were White and children who were African American or other minorities such as Mexican American.

Drug testing of teachers involves the law regarding search and seizure, and it must consider both the general nature of a workplace with the expectation that privacy exists there and the specific nature of a school setting with the special considerations necessary there.

Drug testing of students most often arises in two circumstances: tests conducted when a school official reasonably believes that a student is under the influence of a controlled substance not permitted by law or school policy, and tests conducted pursuant to a policy permitting random, suspicionless drug tests.

For decades, school systems engaged in efforts to stem drug use and violence in schools.

School dress codes have their origins in English private schools but only recently became common in American public schools.

Dowell v. Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools is the name given to a series of cases that moved back and forth through the federal courts for more than three decades as Oklahoma schools worked to achieve desegregation to the court’s satisfaction.

Justice William O. Douglas holds the record for service on the U.S. Supreme Court, 36 years and 7 months, longer than any other justice in Court history.

Among the numerous definitions for distance learning, three in particular stand out.

Actions that negatively affect individuals in particular groups as defined by race, color, religion, sex, or national origin are referred to as having a disparate or disproportionate impact. The concept of disparate impact flows from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the large amount of litigation it fostered.

The rights of individuals with disabilities in the educational context are governed by three federal laws and numerous state laws. The federal laws are known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed in 1998 and effective in 2000, updates federal copyright law to meet the demands of the electronic age, particularly in regard to copyright infringement on the Internet.

A deposition is a method of discovery that is used to gather or obtain facts and information that may be relevant to a pending lawsuit.

Because the Dominion of Canada initially included separate areas with English-speaking and Frenchspeaking majorities, constitutional legal protections were provided for denominational schools as a safeguard for minority-religion schools.

In DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974), a law school applicant challenged the University of Washington Law School’s race-conscious admission policy, charging that his rejection constituted discrimination.

Defamation is an injurious statement about a person’s reputation; it usually involves a defamer, who imputes questionable character or inappropriate conduct about another, the defamed party. 

At issue in Debra P. v. Turlington (1981) was the validity of student testing. In 1978, the Florida legislature conditioned the receipt of a high school diploma on passing a state competency examination.