Note: The following information, presented in news story form, will help you understand how far-reaching each court's decision is. Note that the "case reporter" -- the book you'll find your case in -- is stated in parentheses after the heading about where the case was heard.
Speech codes on college campuses may conflict with tenured professors' free speech rights, the United States Supreme Court ruled today.
In a 5-4 decision in Shurlds v. University of Arkansas, the Court held that the speech codes enacted at the Fayetteville campus could not be used to remove Shurlds from her teaching position because they were "broader than pack mule" and unconstitutionally vague. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion.
The decision marks the first time the Supreme Court has considered whether speech codes and academic freedom can exist side-by-side, said Justice Ginsburg.
"The law has been moving in the direction of restricting free speech on campuses," she said. "Now the court has corrected its course."
Shurlds was fired from her job as professor of journalism after students complained that she made inappropriate jokes in class which they said offended them. "She was always telling us that we have no constitutional right not to be offended," one of her former students testified in the lower court trial.
(The story would likely be much longer and would include the history of the case as it has moved through the courts. In other words, did it begin as a state case or federal? did an appeals court affirm or reverse?, etc.)
The United States Supreme Court let stand today a ruling by the Arkansas State Supreme Court that speech codes on college campuses may conflict with tenured professors' free speech rights.
The University of Arkansas had appealed the ruling of a lower court which held that the university could not fire Professor Katherine Shurlds for violating its speech code.
While the ruling is important to other tenured professors in Arkansas, the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case means that other states are free to decide the matter for themselves.
If the case is denied cert from a federal court of appeals (F.2d or 3d):
(substitute 3rd paragraph above) While the ruling is important to other tenured professors in the Eighth Judicial Circuit, the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case means that courts in other circuits are free to decide the matter for themselves.
(No statement about precedent is needed.)