Pickering v. Board of Education
| Pickering v. Board of Education | |
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| Argued March 27, 1968 Decided June 3, 1968 |
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| Full case name | Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, Will County |
| Citations | 391 U.S. 563 (more)
88 S. Ct. 1731; 20 L. Ed. 2d 811; 1968 U.S. LEXIS 1471; 1 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 8
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| Prior history | Dismissal upheld, Will County Circuit Court; affirmed, 225 N.E. 2d 1 (Ill. 1967); rehearing denied, Ill. Mar. 27, 1967 |
| Holding | |
| The dismissal of a public school teacher for public statements regarding issues of public importance, without a showing that his statements were knowingly or recklessly false, violated his First Amendment right to free speech. Supreme Court of Illinois reversed and remanded. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Marshall, joined by Warren, Harlan, Brennan, Stewart, Fortas |
| Concurrence | Douglas, Black |
| Concur/dissent | White |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that in the absence of proof of the teacher knowingly or recklessly making false statements the teacher had a right to speak on issues of public importance without being dismissed from his or her position. The case was later distinguished by Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006), where the Court held that statements by public employees made pursuant to their employment have no First Amendment protection.
Pickering involved a Township High School teacher who was dismissed after writing a letter to a local newspaper which criticised how the Township Board of Education and the district superintendent had handled past proposals to raise new revenue for the schools. The claim that his writing the letter was protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments was rejected by the Board of Education. He appealed the Board's action to the Circuit Court of Will County and then to the Supreme Court of Illinois, which both affirmed his dismissal. The Supreme Court of the United States agreed the teacher's First Amendment right to free speech were violated and reversed the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court.
In February 1961 the Township Board of Education asked the voters of Township High School District 205 to approve a bond issue to raise $4,875,000 to erect two new schools, which was defeated. In December 1961, the Board again submitted a bond proposal to the voters for $5,500,000 to build two new schools, which passed and the two schools were built with the money. In May 1964, the Board proposed and submitted to the voters an increase in the tax rate for educational purposes, which was defeated. On September 19, 1964, a second proposal to increase the tax rate was submitted by the Board, and was similarly defeated.
Prior to the vote on the September 1964 tax increase proposal, various newspaper articles appeared in the local paper which were attributed to the District 205 Teachers' Organization. Those articles urged passage of the proposal and stated that failure to pass the increase would result in a decline in the quality of education afforded children in the district's schools. Also, a letter making the same point from the superintendent of schools was published in the paper two days before the election, and copies of the letter were given to the voters the following day.
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