Analyzes four recent Supreme Court parochaid decisions, as well as two rulings dealing with equal educational opportunity, and three concerned with racial discrimination. Observes an ominous turn by the Court toward the use of judicial restraint to promote a conservative social agenda. (MLF)

An Oregon court case in which American Indians disputed a state law against use of peyote for ritual practices is reviewed, and its implications for free exercise of religion on college campuses are examined. In this context, the impact of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 is also considered. (MSE)

The Supreme Court ordered a lower court to reexamine the free-speech case of a controversial City University of New York black studies professor, demoted from department chairman for making racially biased statements seen as disruptive. The rights of public universities to make such decisions was a central issue. (MSE)

A number of state supreme courts have decided cases involving challenges to state public school financing. Summarizes the reactions of courts to plaintiffs' proof concerning the negative impact of inadequate funding on the educational opportunities provided to students in poor school districts. (43 references) (MLF)

Examines the origins of the U. S. Bill of Rights and constitutional guarantees, focusing on trial rights, tracing them to English antecedents and the colonial period. Explains changes in understanding and the application of trial rights, highlighting the U.S. Supreme Court's evolving influence since the nineteenth century. Outlines contemporary…

The Pope called upon Roman Catholic institutions of higher learning to "make known their Catholic identity" by integrating Catholic teaching and discipline in all university activities. Religious institutions find themselves facing precarious legal challenges, where the constitutionality of government appropriations could be challenged,…

Discusses school administrators' legal-affairs management responsibilities regarding legal advice, law versus ethics, and sources of law. Suggests strategies for retaining and managing legal counsel and avoiding situations involving litigation, torts, and conflict resolution. Explains general counsel services; outlines education,…

Examines development of the equalization idea in American public education, discusses theorists' applications of equalization to school finance, reviews the literature on school-finance reform-litigation effects, and concludes that U.S. history has not strongly supported equalization of educational opportunities. Education is not a fundamental…

The general conversation today about the USA PATRIOT Act and its historical and legal significance must be contextualized with reference to a series of 1970s U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the U.S. Border Patrol that directly undergird the PATRIOT Act. The Supreme Court long ago turned the U.S. borderlands adjoining Mexico into a permanent…

In "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris," the Supreme Court of the US made it clear that governments do not unconstitutionally "establish" religion merely by permitting eligible students to use publicly funded scholarships to attend qualifying religious schools, so long as the students' parents are able to make a "true private…

Designed for use with the student text, "Into Your Hands His Life and Liberty. A Collection of Significant Cases from the Rhode Island Courts," this teachers' guide presents activities, lesson strategies, related activities, court decisions, and additional questions. The cases, dating from Roger Williams to the 1970s, examine religious…

Today more than ever before, lay persons are being asked to share in the catechetical ministry of the Catholic Church by serving as catechetical leaders, catechists, and religious education board members. This handbook is designed to provide catechetical leaders and others involved in parish religious education with essential information about…

This book describes the actions that led to the 1973 United States Supreme Court case to establish administrator rights, "Holstrop v. Illinois Junior College District 515." The book was written by the plaintiff, who believed that he had been illegally removed from his presidency at Prairie State College, a junior college in Illinois.…

During the past year, in cases involving the authority of school boards to make curricular decisions and provide for services, the courts have balanced school board authority against constitutional and statutory provisions related to privacy, free exercise of religion, and public records laws. Section 1, "School Boards and Board Members," outlines…

The second in a special four-part series of law-school partnership handbooks on constitutional themes, this document focuses on equality. "Equality--the Forgotten Word" (J. A. Hughes) discusses what has been considered the U.S. Constitution's one flaw, its failure to abolish slavery, and the remedy to that flaw, the Fourteenth Amendment.…