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Good News Club v. Milford Central School

Good News Club v. Milford Central School. Allison Fears. Background. People to know. Plaintiff: Good News Club Lawyer: Thomas Marcelle Defendant: Milford Central School Lawyer: Frank W. Miller. http://www.uticanational.com/ero/seminar/images/Miller.gif.

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Good News Club v. Milford Central School

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  1. Good News Club v. Milford Central School Allison Fears

  2. Background

  3. People to know • Plaintiff: Good News Club • Lawyer: Thomas Marcelle • Defendant: Milford Central School • Lawyer: Frank W. Miller http://www.uticanational.com/ero/seminar/images/Miller.gif http://www.oyez.org/advocates/m/t/thomas_marcelle

  4. The original case • Fought at United States District Court for the Northern District of New York • Club argued that the school had broken their 1st and 14th amendment rights • Club was teaching “moral values from a Christian perspective” (Court) • Compared to FFA and Boy/Girl Scouts • Court denied both arguments of law presented

  5. Court of appeals • 2 issues of law • 1) Did Milford Central School violate “the free speech rights of the Good News Club when it excluded the club from meeting after hours at the school” • 2) Is there any such violation that is “justified by Milford’s concern that permitting the Club’s activities would violate the Establishment Clause?

  6. Court of appeals cont. • Due to the Club’s events being typically religious and falling outside of the limitations of moral development, it was constitutional subject discrimination. • The previous court case defined it as unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. • However, Judge Jacobs “filed a dissenting opinion in which he concluded that the school’s restriction did constitute viewpoint discrimination. Milford had “not raised a valid Establishment Clause claim” and therefore, the claim could not excuse the viewpoint discrimination.

  7. Transferred to supreme court • Good News Club v. Milford Central School 553 U.S. 98 (2001) • February 28, 2001 – June 11, 2001 • Court members: Chief Justice, William Rehnquist, and Associate Justices, John Stevens, Sandra Day, O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader, Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer

  8. Limited Forum • District’s policy created a limited public forum • Does not allow all forms of speech to take place • Restriction: cannot discriminate speech based on viewpoint • Discrimination violated 1st amendment • Final vote: Good news club—6 / Milford Central school—3

  9. Dissenting opinion • Written by Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg • Religious speech is divided into three different kinds • Topic in a religious perspective, Worship, and promoting the gospel • Could forum allow the 1st kind without allowing the other two? • Policy restricted activities pertaining to religious purposes • Superintendent stated that the policy allowed the teaching that God created the world but not the promotion of the gospel • The club’s activities involved all three kinds of speech • School was not breaking forum but was hard to tell because of the different viewpoints on how speech is divided

  10. Political Impact • Schools open their doors to religious groups such as younglife and Wildlife to hold meetings • Similar youth groups have had a major boost in popularity form supreme court case • The more people that know = the bigger the spread • Also put a huge impact on the current fight of religion in school http://cefvolusia.org/resources/_wsb_100x100_Faces.png

  11. Works Cited • Court Decision - Good News Club v. Milford Central School. n.d. <http://atheism.about.com/library/decisions/religion/bl_l_GoodNewsMilford.htm>. • Good News Club v Milford Central School. n.d. <http://www.belcherfoundation.org/good_news_club_opinion.htm>. • Good News Club v. Milford Central School. n.d. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2000/2000_99_2036>. • GOOD NEWS CLUB V. MILFORD CENTRAL SCHOOL. n.d. <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99->. • Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001). n.d. <http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/tmkeck/Cases/GoodNewsClubvMilford2001.html>.

  12. Works Cited (pictures) • "Thomas Marcelle." The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. <http://www.oyez.org/advocates/m/t/thomas_marcelle>. • Web. 26 Nov. 2013. <http://cefvolusia.org/resources/_wsb_100x100_Faces.png>. • Web. 26 Nov. 2013. <http://www.uticanational.com/ero/seminar/images/Miller.gif>.

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