A Capehart Scatchard Blog

Tag: U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Affirmative Action in College Admissions is Unconstitutional

By on July 11, 2023 in NJ School Law, Other

By: Gabi Aste-Molina, Law Clerk Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court held in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College that race cannot be a factor in college admissions because it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Students for Fair Admissions (“SFFA”) filed separate lawsuits against two highly selective universities: Harvard College and the University of North Carolina (“UNC”) in November 2014, alleging that these institutions’ admissions systems violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth […]

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U.S. Supreme Court Rules First Amendment Protects Public School Coach’s Post-Game Prayer

By on July 7, 2022 in NJ School Law, Other with 0 Comments

By: Angela Reading, Law Clerk Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. On June 27, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District held that a public school football coach’s prayers on the football field, in public after football games, were protected under the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment. The ruling highlights a conflict between First Amendment rights in public schools: the right to freely practice and express religion and the right of others to be free from the state endorsing religion. For years, Joseph Kennedy, an assistant football coach in Bremerton, Washington, walked […]

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First Amendment: U.S. Supreme Court Narrows the Right of Schools to Discipline Off Campus Speech

By: Gitika Kapoor, Law ClerkEditor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. The Supreme Court of United States ruled on June 23, 2021 that a Pennsylvania public school district violated a student’s First Amendment rights by punishing her for posting a vulgar message on social media while off-campus and off school hours. In reaching this decision in Mahanoy Area School District v. Levy, the Court considered that the speech was made off campus and did not involve school infrastructure. Moreover, it did not cause substantial disruption because while it upset a few students and was a topic of discussion for a few days, […]

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Third Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Parents’ Complaint for Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies – Again

In the last year, our federal courts have addressed the exhaustion of administrative remedies requirement for parents who bring claims against a school district on behalf of a disabled student under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (“Section 504”). Notably, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February 2017 in Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools that parents are required to exhaust administrative remedies under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) when the heart of their complaint alleges a denial of a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”). The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which applies to New Jersey, recently applied the […]

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U.S. Supreme Court Decides Substantive Standard for FAPE to Special Education Students

By: Cameron R. Morgan, Esq. Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. For many months now, those involved in the world of special education have been patiently awaiting the issuance of one of the most important legal decisions in special education in the past 35 years, since the seminal Rowley decision was handed down in 1982. On March 22, 2017, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, 580 U.S. ___ (2017), in which it confronted the difficult issue of the appropriate substantive standard for determining whether special education students have been provided with […]

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U.S. Supreme Court Rules Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies Not Required in Non-FAPE Cases

In a long awaited case involving a student requesting the use of a service dog in school, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled on February 22, 2017 in Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools that parents are not required to exhaust administrative remedies under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) when the heart of their complaint does not allege a denial of a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”). This case involved a student with cerebral palsy who qualified for special education and related services under the IDEA when she attended a public school in Michigan. As a result, she […]

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