New Title IX regulations issued by the Department of Education expand the types of sexual harassment schools must address and give schools greater flexibility in how they handle hearings. But the Supreme Court's recent ruling in "Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo" expands courts' roles in how federal agencies interpret and enforce…

Overall, there has been limited guidance from the federal government on how K-12 schools should implement their policies and practices to comply with Title IX and special education law. The lack of clear directives leaves K-12 schools with the task of identifying policies and processes that are the best practices in navigating the rights afforded…

In this article, I detail how I revised a social foundations of education course to center major Supreme Court cases relating to K-12 public schools. Scholars in social foundations of education have articulated a vision for the field that fosters and promotes democracy and democratic dispositions. Focusing on the Supreme Court in a social…

In this qualitative study, 21 Title IX federal court cases between 2000-2022 were examined. The purpose of this analysis was to explore how the changes in Title IX guidance across President George W. Bush (R), President Barack Obama (D), and President Donald Trump (R) administrations have impacted higher education institutional liability lawsuits.…

In "Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College ("SFFA")," the United States Supreme Court revisited an issue that had been litigated before it twenty years earlier. In two separate cases brought against the University of Michigan, the issue was whether it was a violation of the Constitution…

Last November, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether the administration could rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), with the fate of over 650,000 DACA recipients in the balance. Under federal law, DACA recipients cannot access federal financial aid, so most rely on a mix of private scholarships, state or institutional…

Even though special education law is covered in most teacher and administrative certification programs, it is an area that is continually evolving. The results of the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court case "Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District" will have a lasting impact on the future of special education guidelines; the outcomes of this…

In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled on a special education case Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. In this important case, the High Court addressed the degree of educational benefit necessary for a school district to fulfill the requirements for a free appropriate public education (FAPE) under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act…

Two Supreme Court cases have served to frame our legal rights and responsibilities regarding a Free Appropriate Public Education for students in our music classrooms and ensembles. This article serves as record of the two cases and their merits, according to the Supreme Court, as well as the actions recommended based on the court decisions.

A persistent problem in the professional literature in school psychology and related fields, such as special education, is the insufficient treatment of legal issues in terms of not only quantity (e.g., Zaheer & Zirkel, 2014) but also quality (e.g., Zirkel, 2014). The quality dimension is illustrated in the coverage of the Supreme Court's…

The Fair Use exemption to copyright infringement is a difficult concept for those within the legal community because of its unique "case-by-case" application. Without any red line rules, providing guidance to typical users is even more challenging. This paper reviews several recent cases regarding the application of Fair Use and how the…

The last several years have seen renewed debate over the role that race plays in higher education--a debate over "affirmative action." The report first considers "affirmative action" in its original sense: the "mandatory" race-conscious measures that the federal courts have imposed on "de jure" segregated…

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Whatever its merits as a matter of policy, it was a historic legislative achievement. No prior administration had successfully pushed national health reform through Congress, despite several attempts. Understandably, the mood at the act's…

This article discusses concerns about how Neil M. Gorsuch, a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, might influence decisions regarding cases involving the appropriate scope of services guaranteed by federal special-education law, government aid to religious institutions providing educational services, and how intellectual property law applies to sports…

"We are in a war," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declared to cheers at a 2011 National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) Pro-Choice America fund-raiser. Secretary Sebelius was referring in part to the uproar caused by the "HHS Mandate," her agency's rule that employer-provided…