Introduction

Abstract

Public schools are often defined as a laboratory of democratic ideas. This concept is easy to grasp with all the students entering school who have diverse backgrounds including various perspectives on religion, politics, individual rights, and others. The duty of school officials is to navigate all these perspectives, ensuring that individual rights are protected while simultaneously ensuring that order is maintained for an appropriate learning environment. To declare this an arduous task is an understatement. The Roberts Court is making and is forecasted to make decisions that will alter how schools ensure student rights are protected while ensuring the mission of the school is carried out. The main reason for these modifications and reversals is due to the political ideology of several of the Justices on the Court. Conservative politicians have been maneuvering for several years to appoint justices to the bench who endorse their political ideologies, which are in opposition to long-held precedents. Many of these reversals will require the justices to ignore the legal concept of stare decisis, which causes consternation among legal scholars and, ultimately, confusion for school administrators. Legal topics important to school officials that are active with the Court include religion, special education, student rights, race, gender discrimination, teacher rights, and immigration.

Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.

~Confucius

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

~Malcom X, June 28, 1964