55 | Bethel v. Fraser and the PG-13 Pep-Rally: Lewd Speech and Limiting Students’ First Amendment Rights

Under the First Amendment, can schools punish students for their lewd and indecent speech? What happens when a student delivers a speech full of sexual innuendos to a required assembly of 600 high school students? How should schools respond when a high school speech sounds more like a late-night comedy set? Welcome to our two-year anniversary episode!! We’re going to stay true to form and cover another landmark Supreme Court case for you. (What will we do when we run out of landmark education law cases from the Supreme Court? Given today's political context, we probably won't!) Today's case is one of our favorites. This is a case about a student's speech at an assembly that went from persuasive to provocative to potentially pornographic. This is the famous Supreme Court case, Bethel School Dist. v. Fraser, from 1986. We also talk about a new ACLU lawsuit that is a statewide challenge to Texas's 10 Commandments law. --- Need some education law content for your courses or professional development? We have a Teaching Guide! You can check it out at our website, ⁠ChalkandGavel.com⁠. We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider supporting Chalk & Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us continue to deliver the education law content you want to hear! ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel⁠ --- Keywords: Students' Rights, First Amendment, Student Speech, Bethel v. Fraser, Lewd and Indecent Speech, Due Process, Student Discipline, Religion and the Public Schools#educationlaw #k12 #podcast #ChalkandGavel #StudentRights