The purpose of this paper is to examine the current status of freedom of the press with regard to past and present judicial rulings. A section devoted to "The Background of Prior Restraint" examines the historical basis for current legal decisions. In "Threatening Progeny," court decisions unfriendly to the press such as the…

Concludes that federal courts subpoena reporters less often and uphold subpoenas less often than do state courts. (FL)

Uses the relatively new science of fuzzy logic to review lower court and appellate court decisions from the last four decades regarding free expression in student publications. Finds pronounced effects, showing that fuzzy sets inherently favor administrators, while students show a strikingly high win/loss ratio when courts avoid fuzzy logic. (SR)

In "Hazelwood" the U.S. Supreme Court said public school officials can censor school-sponsored expression for legitimate educational purposes. A content-analysis case study of student-written newspaper editorials found that more than three times as many editorials of criticism were published prior to the Court's decision. Argues that…

The Supreme Court's controversial "community standards" ruling in "Miller v. California" (1973) states that for materials to be judged obscene, they no longer need to be "utterly without redeeming social value," but must lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value, and that the question of…

This report focuses on controversial articles written by the high school press, decisions made by the courts regarding students' press freedoms, and reactions to the articles and rulings. Particular attention is given to two rulings concerning censorship of articles about students' sexual atttiudes and activities, the issue of prior restraint of…

Federal courts of appeals have generally held that high school officials may exercise prior restraint regarding student publications if constitutionally sound procedural safeguards are available. A study synthesized what the lower courts have said about prior restraint and examined how those affected by the rulings have responded. The intent was…