Why is Bethel v Fraser important? – Wise-Answer (2024)

FAQs

Why is Bethel V Fraser important? ›

It was a landmark case because it helped establish the limitations of First Amendment rights for high school students. Bethel v. Fraser is widely considered to be one of the most important Supreme Court cases connected to the United States education system.

Fraser, a student at Bethel High School, was suspended for three days for delivering an obscene and provocative speech to the student body. In this speech, he nominated his fellow classmate for an elected school office. The Supreme Court held that his free speech rights were not violated.

Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the suspension of a high school student who delivered a sexually suggestive speech at a school assembly. The case involved free speech in public schools.

Matthew was the plaintiff in the 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case Bethel v. Fraser. Currently he is the Executive Director of Education Unlimited, which provides debate and mock trial training camps for high school students.

Bethel was evidently already an important religious centre at this time; it was so important, in fact, that the Ark of the Covenant was kept there, under the care of Phinehas the grandson of Aaron (Judges 20:27 f). At Judges 21:19, Bethel is said to be south of Shiloh.

On April 26, 1983, respondent Matthew N. Fraser, a student at Bethel High School in Pierce County, Washington, delivered a speech nominating a fellow student for student elective office. Approximately 600 high school students, many of whom were 14-year-olds, attended the assembly.

Landmark decisions establish a significant new legal principle or concept or otherwise that substantially changes the interpretation of existing law.

To distinguish between the Tinker and Fraser cases: 1. Tinker case: Symbolic speech protected if it does not disrupt the educational environment. 2. Fraser case: Schools can restrict lewd or vulgar speech inconsistent with educational values.

Precedent refers to a court decision that is considered an authority for deciding subsequent cases involving identical or similar facts, or similar legal issues. Precedent is incorporated into the doctrine of stare decisis and requires courts to apply the law in the same manner to cases with the same facts.

"I know a man who is firm -- he's firm in his pants, he's firm in his shirt, his character is firm -- but most . . . of all, his belief in you, the students of Bethel, is firm. Jeff Kuhlman is a man who takes his point and pounds it in. If necessary, he'll take an issue and nail it to the wall.

Is Bethel a God? ›

The term Bethel or Beth-El appears in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, but opinions differ as to whether these references are to a god or to a place. Porten suspects that the Bethel mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah at chapter 48, verse 13 is a reference to the god Bethel, rather than the city named Bethel.

403 v. Fraser, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on July 7, 1986, ruled (7–2) that school officials did not violate a student's free speech and due process rights when he was disciplined for making a lewd and vulgar speech at a school assembly.

JUSTICE MARSHALL, dissenting. I agree with the principles that JUSTICE BRENNAN sets out in his opinion concurring in the judgment. I dissent from the Court's decision, however, because, in my view, the School District failed to demonstrate that respondent's remarks were indeed disruptive.

Fraser was then informed that he would be suspended for three days, and that his name would be removed from the list of candidates for graduation speaker at the school's commencement exercises. Fraser sought review of this disciplinary action through the School District's grievance procedures.

Decision and Reasoning

The Court noted that the paper was sponsored by the school and, as such, the school had a legitimate interest in preventing the publication of articles that it deemed inappropriate and that might appear to have the imprimatur of the school.

Lopez, case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, 1975, ruled that, under the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause, public-school students facing suspensions are entitled to notice and a hearing.

The Supreme Court clarified in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) that public students do not “shed” their First Amendment rights “at the schoolhouse gate.”