Supreme Court Hears Arguments From School Officials, Students - The First Amendment - Who Should Control School Newspapers?

Sep 29, 2026

In 1983, student editors at Hazelwood High in St. Louis planned May 13 stories for The Spectrum, including interviews on teen pregnancy and how divorce affects children. Principal Robert E. Reynolds reviewed the articles and ordered them not to be published, citing recognition of interviewees. The students sued, arguing illegal censorship under the First Amendment. Courts first sided with the school district, but an appeals panel held the newspaper was a public forum protected for student opinion. The case then proceeded to the U.S. Supreme Court for final resolution.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages13

Reading Time33 min

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Supreme Court Hears Arguments From School Officials, Students

The First Amendment

Who Should Control School Newspapers?

Amendment guarantees the right of free speech and the right of a free press to publish without interference.

On to the Supreme Court

# Supreme Court HearsArguments From SchoolOfficials,Students The year was 1983.Kathy Kuhl-meier,Leanne Tippett,and Leslie Smartwere students at Hazelwood High,a largeschool located near St.Louis,Mo.Allthree teens were editors of The Spec-trum,Hazelwood's student newspaper. When planning the May 13,1983,is-sue of The Spectrum,the three editorsdecided to do two pages of stories aboutteen problems.They planned to do onestory about teen pregnancy,with inter-views with some unmarried pregnantstudents.They also planned a story abouthow divorce affects children,again withstudent interviews. The stories were written and ready togo to press when Robert E.Reynolds,Hazelwood's principal,heard about them.Reynolds read the stories;then,withouttalking to the editors,he ordered the pa-per to not publish them.Reynolds latersaid one of his reasons for killing thestories was that the people interviewedin the articles,although not identifiedby name,would have been recognizedby readers. # The First Amendment The student editors were angry andupset.They felt that Reynolds had no rightdeciding what stories should or shouldnot be put in The Spectrum.The studenteditors felt so strongly,in fact,that theywent to court.They sued the schooldistrict,claiming that the principal'sactions amounted to illegal censorshipand violated their rights under the FirstAmendment to the Constitution.The First # Who Should ControlSchool Newspapers? Ewing Galloway # The Supreme Court Bullding in Washington,D.C.—Where Legal Decisions That Affect AllAmericans Are Made. The lawyers for the students,how-ever,argued that more than 75 percent ofstudent publications in U.S.public highschools are produced as part of journal-ism courses.These publications,like TheSpectrum,said the lawyers,“are the onlyoutlet teenagers have for making theiropinions,ideas,and concerns known to:..the world." The Spectrum,said the lawyers,is notsimply a course assignment,but a legit-imate newspaper for students about stu-dents,and written by students.Thus,theprincipal could not remove articles with-out violating the First Amendment rightsof the student editors. After hearing these arguments,the Continued on Next Page # Amendment guarantees the right of freespeech and the right of a free press topublish without interference. The case of Kuhlmeier v.HazelwoodSchool District came before a federaldistrict court judge in 1985.Lawyers forthe school district argued that the FirstAmendment did not protect the editors ofThe Spectrum.They said that the news-paper,although written for all the stu-dents,was part of a journalism course.The student editors were graded on whatthey wrote.These conditions,said theschool district lawyers,made The Spec-trum not a real newspaper,but a courseassignment,thus not protected by Free-dom of the Press. Continued from Page 1 judge ruled in favor of the school dis-trict.The Spectrum,said the judge,isnot a"public forum for the expression ofstudent opinion and therefore not subjectto the same First Amendment protec-tions available outside a school setting.” The end of the case?By no means.The teens appealed(asked a higher courtto review)the district judge's decision.In 1986,the case was heard by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S.Circuit Courtof Appeals.This court heard the samearguments,but it decided by a 2-1 mar-gin that the lower court was wrong.TheSpectrum,said the Appeals Court,is in-deed “a public forum for the expressionof student opinion”and is thus protectedby the First Amendment. # On to the Supreme Court Now it was the turn of lawyers for theHazelwood School District to appeal. 2 They appealed to the U.S.SupremeCourt,the highest court in the land.Intheir appeal,the lawyers asked the Courtto clear up “widespread confusion”aboutthe authority of school officials to keepwhat they consider objectionable mate-rial out of school newspapers. Last month (Oct.13),the SupremeCourt heard oral(spoken)argumentsfr

FAQs

Why did Hazelwood High principal Robert E. Reynolds stop the student newspaper stories?

Reynolds read the planned stories and ordered that they not be published, saying the interviewees, though not identified by name, could be recognized by readers.

What issue did the students raise when they sued the school district?

They argued the principal’s actions amounted to illegal censorship and violated their First Amendment rights for student editors.

How did the appellate court view The Spectrum in the Kuhlmeier case?

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that The Spectrum was a public forum for student opinion and therefore protected by the First Amendment.

Sep 29, 2026

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