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Supreme Court

Light illuminates part of the Supreme Court building at dusk on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022.
Light illuminates part of the Supreme Court building at dusk on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022. The high court on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, made it easier for workers, including educators, to sue over job transfers.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Law & Courts Why It Will Now Be Easier for Educators to Sue Over Job Transfers
The case asked whether transferred employees had to show a 'significant' change in job conditions to sue under Title VII. The court said no.
Mark Walsh, April 17, 2024
8 min read
An American flag waves in front of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 2, 2020.
An American flag waves in front of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 2, 2020.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Law & Courts When Blocking Social Media Critics, School Officials Have Protections, Supreme Court Says
The court said public officials' own pages may be "state action," but only when they are exercising government authority.
Mark Walsh, March 15, 2024
6 min read
Rising seniors at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology gather on the campus in Alexandria, Va., Aug. 10, 2020. From left in front are, Dinan Elsyad, Sean Nguyen, and Tiffany Ji. From left at rear are Jordan Lee and Shibli Nomani. A federal appeals court’s ruling in May 2023 about the admissions policy at the elite public high school in Virginia may provide a vehicle for the U.S. Supreme Court to flesh out the intended scope of its ruling Thursday, June 29, 2023, banning affirmative action in college admissions.
A group of rising seniors at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology gather on the campus in Alexandria, Va., in August 2020. From left in front are, Dinan Elsyad, Sean Nguyen, and Tiffany Ji. From left at rear are Jordan Lee and Shibli Nomani. The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 declined to hear a challenge to an admissions plan for the selective high school that was facially race neutral but designed to boost the enrollment of Black and Hispanic students.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Declines Case on Selective High School Aiming to Boost Racial Diversity
Some advocates saw the K-12 case as the logical next step after last year's decision against affirmative action in college admissions
Mark Walsh, February 20, 2024
7 min read
High school English teacher Puja Clifford sits below signs posted on a wall in her classroom at San Francisco International High School in San Francisco on April 19, 2016. The school accommodated migrant students by rewriting young-adult novels at a basic level to spark the newcomers' interest in reading.
High school English teacher Puja Clifford sits below signs posted on a wall in her classroom at San Francisco International High School in San Francisco on April 19, 2016. English learner education, including for migrant students, has evolved over the last 50 days after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case.
Jeff Chiu/AP
English-Language Learners Timeline: The U.S Supreme Court Case That Established English Learners' Rights
Fifty years ago the landmark Lau v. Nichols case set the stage for federal English-learner policy.
Ileana Najarro, January 19, 2024
4 min read
High school teacher Tara Hobson talks with a student in the school cafeteria at San Francisco International High School in San Francisco on April 19, 2016. Some districts have gone to extraordinary lengths to accommodate migrant students, who often come to join relatives, sometimes escaping criminal gangs or extreme poverty. San Francisco International High School rewrote young-adult novels at a basic level to spark the newcomers' interest in reading.
High school teacher Tara Hobson talks with a student in the school cafeteria at San Francisco International High School in San Francisco on April 19, 2016. The quality of education for English learners, including migrant students in San Francisco, has evolved over the last years in part due to landmark civil rights Supreme Court decision.
Jeff Chiu/AP
English-Language Learners How a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court Case Still Influences English-Learner Education
Fifty years ago Lau v. Nichols required schools to provide language support to English learners to ensure access to public education.
Ileana Najarro, January 19, 2024
7 min read
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court William O. Douglas is shown in an undated photo.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, shown in an undated photo, wrote the opinion in <i>Lau</i> v. <i>Nichols</i>, the 1974 decision holding that the San Francisco school system had denied Chinese-speaking schoolchildren a meaningful opportunity to participate in their education.
AP
Law & Courts In 1974, the Supreme Court Recognized English Learners' Rights. The Story Behind That Case
The Lau v. Nichols ruling said students have a right to a "meaningful opportunity" to participate in school, but its legacy is complex.
Mark Walsh, January 19, 2024
12 min read
People stand on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 11, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
People stand on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 11, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Declines to Hear School District's Transgender Restroom Case
The case asked whether federal law protects transgender students on the use of school facilities that correspond to their gender identity.
Mark Walsh, January 16, 2024
4 min read
The Supreme Court building is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 10, 2023.
The Supreme Court building is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 10, 2023.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Declines Case on Corporal Punishment for Student With Autism
The justices refused to hear the appeal of an 11-year-old Louisiana student who alleges that two educators slapped her on her wrists.
Mark Walsh, January 8, 2024
3 min read
Linda Brown Smith stands in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan., on May 8, 1964. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then nine years old, because she is black, led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated.
Linda Brown Smith stands in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan., in 1964, a segregated white school where she had been denied enrollment in 1951, leading to the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the "separate but equal" doctrine in the case that bears her family name, <i>Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.</i> The high court on Jan. 8 turned away an effort by descendants of the litigants in a companion desegregation case from South Carolina to rename the historic decision for their case, <i>Briggs</i> v. <i>Elliott</i>.
AP
Law & Courts U.S. Supreme Court Declines Bid to Rename 'Brown v. Board of Education'
Descendants argued that their case, not the one from Topeka, Kan., should have topped the 1954 decision on racial segregation in schools.
Mark Walsh, January 8, 2024
3 min read
Photograph of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington DC, USA.
E+/Getty
Law & Courts How a Supreme Court Case on Job Transfers Will Impact Schools
The justices consider whether workers alleging employment discrimination must show that a lateral job transfer harmed them.
Mark Walsh, December 6, 2023
8 min read
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor listens as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pays tribute to O'Connor's advocacy work on behalf of civic education, impact on female judges and justice for women and girls worldwide at the Seneca Women Global Leadership Forum at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, on April 15, 2015 in Washington.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor listens to a tribute to her advocacy work on behalf of civics education and women's role in the legal profession at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, on April 15, 2015, in Washington.
Kevin Wolf/Invision for Seneca Women via AP Images
Law & Courts What Sandra Day O'Connor Did to Shape School Law and Civics Education
O'Connor wrote influential opinions on affirmative action, Title IX, and other education issues. Then she tirelessly worked on civics.
Mark Walsh, December 1, 2023
10 min read
Gun safety and domestic violence prevention organizations gather outside of the Supreme Court before oral arguments are heard in United States v. Rahimi on Nov. 7, 2023, in Washington.
Gun safety and domestic violence prevention organizations gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court before oral arguments are heard in <i>United States</i> v. <i>Rahimi</i> on Nov. 7, 2023, in Washington.
Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
Law & Courts U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Major Gun Case With School Safety in Backdrop
The principle that guns may be barred from schools may bolster a federal law restricting firearm possession by domestic abusers.
Mark Walsh, November 7, 2023
6 min read
The sun rises behind the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Nov. 10, 2020.
The sun rises behind the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Nov. 10, 2020.
Alex Brandon/AP
Law & Courts What the Supreme Court Had to Say About School Board Members Blocking Constituents
The justices take up a case involving school board members who blocked some constituents from posting comments on public social media pages.
Mark Walsh, October 31, 2023
7 min read
The setting sun illuminates the Supreme Court building in Washington on Jan. 10, 2023.
The setting sun illuminates the Supreme Court building in Washington on Jan. 10, 2023.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Law & Courts School Board Members' Use of Social Media Faces Key First Amendment Test in Supreme Court
The justices will decide whether school board members engaged in government action when they blocked parents who posted repetitive comments.
Mark Walsh, October 24, 2023
9 min read