This monograph contains five presentations delivered during the course of an attempt made in November 1992 to amend the state constitution of Illinois in such a way as to make education a fundamental constitutional right. The effort failed to garner the 60 percent of the vote required to pass the amendment. These presentations made a strong…

This ERIC Digest outlines what is meant by the phrase human rights and the origin of the concept. It also traces the delineation of the concept of human rights from the 17th century antecedent of "natural rights" to its eventual incarnation as inherent political or personal rights, such as freedom of speech, press, assembly, and…

Establishing constitutional government involves not simply the creation of a written document that purports to create the political structure of a nation and guarantee rights to its people, but "constitutionalism" in the sense of meaningful and effective adherence to constitutional norms of democratic organization and the protection of…

Issues in students' First Amendment rights are discussed in this paper, which is directed toward school board members. The "Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Schools" (1969) decision is discussed, in which the United States Supreme Court struck down the discipline imposed on students who wore black armbands during school hours to protest…

Legal guidelines to help public school administrators make informed choices in situations that may require student searches are provided in this paper. The constitutional basis of the issue is first discussed, noting that school officials are not required to obtain a search warrant or to have probable cause. A review of Supreme Court decisions…

This report addresses civil rights issues that derive from the First Amendment's guarantee of free exercise of religion and prohibition against the establishment of religion. The commission is acting under its legal mandate to study and collect information and to appraise the laws and policies of the federal government with respect to…

Article III of the U.S. Constitution called for a federal judiciary that would dispense and administer justice in accordance with the principles on which the United States was founded. There was considerable ambivalence among the Founding Fathers as to what was the appropriate role for the judiciary, an ambivalence that has continued to the…

This chapter of "Principles of School Business Management" reviews major federal and state court cases dealing with fiscal equalization of state school support programs and summarizes and discusses the major legal issues that were addressed. The major federal cases include "McInnis v. Shapiro,""Burrus v. Wilkerson," and "Van Dusartz v. Hatfield,"…

Free elections are one of the fundamental principles of any parliamentary democracy. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Basic Law, stipulates in its article 20(2) that "all state authority emanates from the people" who exercise that authority "by means of elections and referendums and through special…

Providing a link between constitutional scholars and the planners of school and public programs observing the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, this series of the Bicentennial Chronicles features articles that provide a link between scholars of the Constitution and the people who will be planning programs for the public and for the…

The town of Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, was incorporated for the purpose of achieving the religious vision of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, just as the Mormons established communities around the teachings of Joseph Smith. The incorporation of Rajneeshpuram was challenged on the basis of the First Amendment, however, raising new questions in regard to the…

Changing political, social, economic, and intellectual conditions over the past two hundred years have demanded innovation and adjustment of legal doctrine, thus giving the United States Constitution a character which the framers of the document could not have predicted. Historically, one must not only understand developments since 1787 but also…

A study analyzed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell's court opinions on First Amendment issues that affect the daily work of journalists. The results showed that he preferred compromises, guidelines, and tests to either/or solutions. Because Powell sought to balance all interests, he developed no firm theoretical position on the First…

This booklet contains 15 lessons to infuse the study of law and citizenship education into an eighth grade social studies curriculum. The lessons are designed to encourage inquiry among the students and to use community resource people, particularly attorneys. Through these lessons, teachers can build support for democratic values, while students…

The First Amendment free speech right is one of the most frequently asserted constitutional challenges to dismissal or discipline of a school district employee. In any employee's claim of violation of free speech right by a public employer, a threefold process of review should be made: (1) Was the conduct in question constitutionally protected in…