Types of Law
John and Lisa are not married but have lived together for several years. After their relationship ends, Lisa wants to establish paternity and seek child support for their 3-year-old child. What type of law is this case?
What is Family law?
This is the term for what a judge writes when a case is decided.
What is the opinion?
At a school basketball game, every time the star player Kobe score a bucket, a student holds up a sign that reads “Bong Hits for Kobe.” The student holding the sign is later suspended by the school. This suspension is valid because student speech may not do this.
What is encourage illegal drug use?
The Supreme Court has held that this daily activity, even if non-denominational and voluntary, was unconstitutional in public schools.
What is prayer?
Bonus 300 points for whoever can name a case we learned involving this action.
Action: Praying
Bonus: Good news, Kennedy, Santa Fe, Engel, Le
A city passes a law that prohibits individuals from protesting outside government buildings. A group of citizens files a lawsuit, claiming the law violates their First Amendment rights. What type of law is this case?
What is Constitutional law?
A judge who disagrees with the decision of the court will write this.
What is the dissent?
A student comes to school with a button that says “Choose Peace, Not War. This action is likely protected as free speech under this case.
What is Tinker?
hile student-led prayer in public schools may raise constitutional issues, prayer in these types of schools is allowed, as they are not bound by the First Amendment's restrictions on government actions.
What are private schools?
Bonus 300 points for whoever can tell me the name of the case that involves this action.
Action: Cutting long hair
Bonus: Karr v. Schmidt
A man is charged with assault and battery after getting into a bar fight, and he faces potential jail time if convicted. What type of law is this case?
What is criminal law?
The legal question that the court needs to answer is referred to as this.
What is the issue?
A 16 year old boy was suspended for not cutting his hair. The Supreme Court held this was okay because a school has wide discretion in determining what?
What are dress codes?
This term describes when the government forces or pressures individuals to participate in religious activities, which the Supreme Court has ruled violates the First Amendment.
What is coercion?
Bonus 300 points for whoever can name a case we learned involving a person who did this action.
Action: Cheerleading
Bonus: MAHANOY SCHOOL V. B.L.
A company is being sued because one of its products caused serious injury to a customer due to a manufacturing defect. What type of law is this case?
What is tort law?
In Tinker, the students should not have been suspended as the armbands represented pure speech, and the school district's actions evidently stemmed from a fear of possible disruption rather than any actual disruption. Name which part of a case this is.
What is the holding?
A student did not make their school soccer team. Later that night, when they are at their house, they post on their Instagram story a picture of a trashcan with the caption “school sucks, our soccer team is trash anyway.” Somone on the soccer team tells the principal, and the student is suspended. This suspension is not likely to stand because this type of speech usually falls in parental, rather than school-related responsibility.
What is off-campus speech?
This Supreme Court case established a three-part test to ensure that government actions involving religion do not violate the Establishment Clause. This long-standing test was effectively overruled in a 2022 SCOTUS case involving a high school football coach's post-game prayers.
What is the Lemon test? OR What is Lemon v. Kurtzman?
Bonus 300 points if you can name the case that dealt with this object in schools.
Object: Confederate Flag
Bonus: MELTON V. YOUNG
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues a new regulation requiring all packaged foods to display specific nutritional information on their labels. A food manufacturer disputes this rule in court. What type of law is this case?
What is administrative law?
Public school officials can prohibit and punish student speech & expression that is vulgar, lewd, and plainly offensive. This is an example of this part of a case.
What is a rule?
To justify the suppression of speech, school officials must be able to prove that the conduct in question does this with the operation of the school?
What is “Materially and substantially interfere”?
In Santa Fe School District v. Doe, the Supreme Court determined that a policy allowing this type of prayer at school-sponsored football games still amounts to government endorsement of religion, violating the Establishment Clause.
What is student-led prayer?
Bonus 300 points for whoever can name the clause means this phrase.
Phrase: "Separation of church and state"
Clause name: The Establishment Clause