Pickering v. Board of Education
1968 United States Supreme Court case / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that in the absence of proof of the teacher knowingly or recklessly making false statements the teacher had a right to speak on issues of public importance without being dismissed from their position.[1] The case was later distinguished by Garcetti v. Ceballos, where the Court held that statements by public employees made pursuant to their employment have no First Amendment protection.[2]
Pickering v. Board of Education | |
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Argued March 27, 1968 Decided June 3, 1968 | |
Full case name | Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, Will County |
Citations | 391 U.S. 563 (more) |
Case history | |
Prior | Dismissal upheld, Will County Circuit Court; affirmed, 225 N.E.2d 1 (Ill. 1967); rehearing denied, Ill. Mar. 27, 1967; probable jurisdiction noted, 389 U.S. 925 (1967). |
Holding | |
The dismissal of a public school teacher for public statements regarding issues of public importance, without a showing that his statements were knowingly or recklessly false, violated his First Amendment right to free speech. Supreme Court of Illinois reversed and remanded. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Marshall, joined by Warren, Harlan, Brennan, Stewart, Fortas |
Concurrence | Douglas, Black |
Concur/dissent | White |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. I |
Pickering involved a Township High School teacher who was dismissed after writing a letter to a local newspaper which criticised how the Township Board of Education and the district superintendent had handled past proposals to raise new revenue for the schools. The claim that his writing the letter was protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments was rejected by the Board of Education. He appealed the Board's action to the Circuit Court of Will County and then to the Supreme Court of Illinois, which both affirmed his dismissal. The Supreme Court of the United States agreed the teacher's First Amendment right to free speech was violated and reversed the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court.[1]