Goss v. Lopez
Encyclopedia
Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565
(1975) was a United States Supreme Court
case that held that a public school must conduct a hearing before subjecting a student to suspension. The Court held that a suspension without a hearing violated the due process clause
of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
.
for 10 days for destroying school property and disrupting the learning environment. In fact, Lopez testified that at least 75 other students were also suspended from his school on the same day.
Ohio Law § 3313.66 empowered the school principal to suspend a student for a period of 10 days or expel them.
The law required that the student and parents be notified of the action 24 hours before and be given the reason.
If the student was expelled the student could appeal to the Board of Education.
However §3313.66 gave no such allowances if the student were suspended. A three-judge District Court struck down the law, saying that it violated the students' right to due process of law. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio held that:
While the District Court reprimanded the school for its violation of the 14th Amendment. It gave the school board latitude in creating a new policy, only stating that "minimum requirements of notice and a hearing prior to suspension, except in emergency situations." The case was appealed by the school to the Supreme Court.
.
The court rejected the argument of the school district that education was not a fundamental right because it was created at the expense of the taxpayers. The court stated that protected interests are not created by the Constitution but by its institutions (Board of Regents v. Roth).
The court reiterated the principle, first clearly formulated in Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist. but established in a long line of decisions before that case, that students "do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door" (internal quotation marks omitted).
The dissent also cited the landmark Tinker case in which the court ruled that students had the right to free speech, but it also said that the school officials had a compelling interest in enforcing order. In Goss v. Lopez one of the students had attacked a Police Officer and Powell found that the school had a compelling interest in controlling the school. Finally he argued that minors should and are treated differently under the law and that the court was turning its back on precedent.
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1975) was a United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
case that held that a public school must conduct a hearing before subjecting a student to suspension. The Court held that a suspension without a hearing violated the due process clause
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
.
History
Nine named students, including a student named Dwight Lopez, were suspended from Marion-Franklin High SchoolMarion-Franklin High School
Marion-Franklin High School is a 4 year high school located on the south side of Columbus, Ohio at 1265 Koebel Road. Marion-Franklin is one of 17 different traditional high schools in the Columbus City Schools district. MFHS is a school that takes pride in their sports programs, extracurriculars,...
for 10 days for destroying school property and disrupting the learning environment. In fact, Lopez testified that at least 75 other students were also suspended from his school on the same day.
Ohio Law § 3313.66 empowered the school principal to suspend a student for a period of 10 days or expel them.
The law required that the student and parents be notified of the action 24 hours before and be given the reason.
If the student was expelled the student could appeal to the Board of Education.
However §3313.66 gave no such allowances if the student were suspended. A three-judge District Court struck down the law, saying that it violated the students' right to due process of law. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio held that:
While the District Court reprimanded the school for its violation of the 14th Amendment. It gave the school board latitude in creating a new policy, only stating that "minimum requirements of notice and a hearing prior to suspension, except in emergency situations." The case was appealed by the school to the Supreme Court.
Holding
The court, split 5-4, held that the state had violated due process by removing the process of a hearing. The court argued that the State of Ohio had made an education a fundamental right (Ohio law, Rev.Code Ann. § 3313.64), while it was not constitutionally mandated to do so, it had done so and was therefore now obligated to do so. The court also stated that suspending a student had potential to seriously harm their reputation and affect their future employment and education. Therefore that state had no authority to remove that right without due process of law and that the serious issue of suspension was not de minimisDe minimis
De minimis is a Latin expression meaning about minimal things, normally in the locutions de minimis non curat praetor or de minimis non curat lex .In risk assessment it refers to a level of risk that is too small to be concerned with...
.
The court rejected the argument of the school district that education was not a fundamental right because it was created at the expense of the taxpayers. The court stated that protected interests are not created by the Constitution but by its institutions (Board of Regents v. Roth).
The court reiterated the principle, first clearly formulated in Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist. but established in a long line of decisions before that case, that students "do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door" (internal quotation marks omitted).
Dissent
Justice Powell wrote the court's dissent. He argued that the court was for the first time interfering in how schools run their own classrooms. He criticized the courts findings that due process was violated because education was a fundamental right. In his dissent Powell stated that had §3313.64 not existed and education was not mandated then the court's argument would be moot. He also cited San Antonio Independent School Dist. v. Rodriguez in its decision that education was not a constitutional right and therefore questioned the court's decision to see that Ohio had created it.The dissent also cited the landmark Tinker case in which the court ruled that students had the right to free speech, but it also said that the school officials had a compelling interest in enforcing order. In Goss v. Lopez one of the students had attacked a Police Officer and Powell found that the school had a compelling interest in controlling the school. Finally he argued that minors should and are treated differently under the law and that the court was turning its back on precedent.