Cyberbullying has been identified by school leaders and researchers as one of the most serious adverse consequences of incorporating information technology into the classroom. This article examines the legal status of cyberbullying by conducting an analysis of selected federal appellate court opinions. This analysis identifies a set of legal…

The author reports on the ruling of a divided appellate court that held that the state law unconstitutionally made it harder for minorities to seek preferences than for other groups. The court struck down a voter-passed ban on the use of race-conscious admissions by Michigan's public colleges, holding that the measure had unconstitutionally put…

The latest episode in the long-running struggle for control of the Constitution, and the political power that goes with it, is playing out in the federal courts in California. The contending philosophies are originalism, which holds that the Constitution should be read as it was originally understood by the framers and ratifiers, and the congeries…

This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that promises to affect the lives of many children. Up for debate is whether a law aimed at curbing children's access to violent video games violates their constitutional right to free speech. Signed 5 years ago by Governor Schwarzenegger, the California statute, which has yet to take…

Arizona's variation on government vouchers for religious schools and California's prohibition on the sale of violent video games to minors present the top two cases with implications for education in the U.S. Supreme Court term that formally begins Oct. 4. New Justice Elena Kagan brings to the court extensive education policy experience as a…

A case pending in a federal court of appeals in California may clarify a surprisingly murky question: Do faculty members at public universities enjoy a special privilege to speak freely about institutional matters, or, as far as the First Amendment is concerned, are they just another category of government hirelings? Juan Hong, a professor of…

From 1998 to 2008, voters in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts passed anti-bilingual education ballot initiatives that required English-only instruction for the vast majority of the states' English language learners. The contentious political discourse leading up to the votes largely ignored the research on best practices for educating…

Religious ferment has been on the rise in public schools. For example, recent newspaper accounts report a controversy in Mustang, Oklahoma, concerning the superintendent's removal of a nativity scene from an elementary school's holiday production; a suit by a Cupertino, California, elementary school teacher against a principal who censored his…

Since 1996, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), located in Southern California, has been under a federal court consent decree requiring compliance with laws pertaining to the delivery of special education services and the elimination of architectural barriers in schools. In 2003, the consent decree was modified, creating…

Analyzes California case ("Newdow v. U.S. Congress") involving Constit utional challenge to the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance wherein the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the phrase violated the Establishment Clause requiring state-church separation. (Contains 11 references.) (PKP)

Most Americans are keenly aware of the African American civil rights movement. However, few know about the comparable struggle of Mexican Americans to enjoin the practice of segregated public schools in the Southwest. This article analyzes "Mendez v. Westminster School District," a 1946 federal court case that ruled that separate but…

Reactions to the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and debate over the president's replacement nomination, Judge John Roberts, Jr., of the D.C. Circuit, dominated this summer's Supreme Court recess. Subsequently, after Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's death on September 3, 2005, President Bush nominated Roberts for the chief justice…

In light of the Supreme Court's decision this Term in "Schaffer v. Weast," this Note analyzes the current state of special education law and argues that parents, attorneys, and advocates should look beyond the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to Section 504 in the post-"Schaffer" public school. This Note shows…

Examines effectiveness of court challenges to education-finance systems in achieving need-driven educational equity, focusing on California, Kentucky, and Texas. Provides overview of education-finance litigation and goals of finance reform. Describes funding system in each state both pre- and post-litigation; uses statistical measures to discuss…

A federal appeals court has upheld an amendment to California's constitution that bars government agencies from granting preferences based on gender or race. The California Civil Rights Initiative, or Proposition 209, was found not to violate the Equal Protection Clause. If the ruling is not reversed, public colleges and universities will be…