1982+Island+Trees+School+District+v.+Pico

Case: //Island Trees School District v. Pico//

Year: 1982

Summary: The board for Island Trees School District ordered the removal of nine books from its school libraries because of what they deemed to be inappropriate content. Four high school students sued for violation of First Amendment freedom of speech rights.

Ruling: the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students claiming that the books were not required reading and therefore could not be forced to be removed from library shelves. The court argued that school boards do not have the right to "remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in these books." They also said that "Although the schools have a right to determine the content of their libraries, they may not interfere with a student's right to learn"

Impact: I found this case interesting because I wonder what you can and cannot censor. This case stated that they couldn’t censor it because it was not required reading. Does that mean that if a teacher assigns students a book to read and one student doesn't like it, can they refuse to read it? I think censoring is an interesting issue because of the freedom of speech tie in. People have the right to choose what they read. Retrieved from: []