Freedom of Assembly and Association by Noël Merino

Author:Noël Merino
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Greenhaven Publishing LLC

It Is Unconstitutional for Schools to Prohibit Particular Political Associations

The Supreme Court's Decision

Lewis F. Powell Jr.

In the following viewpoint Lewis F. Powell Jr., writing for the majority of the US Supreme Court, contends that it is unconstitutional for a college to not recognize a particular student political association because it disagrees with its philosophy or because it is concerned about activities it might undertake. Powell claims that the freedom of association stems from the freedoms of speech, assembly, and petition in the First Amendment, and that the asso-ciational rights of college students deserve protection. Although he notes that the freedom to associate does give a student association license to act against the rules of an educational institution, only a legitimate intent to violate the rules would be grounds for failing to recognize a student association. Powell was an associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1972 until 1987.

Lewis F. Powell Jr., Majority opinion, Healy v. James, US Supreme Court, v. 408, June 26, 1972. www.laws.findlaw.com. Copyright © 1972 by Findlaw, a Thomson Reuters business.

This case, arising out of a denial by a state college of official recognition to a group of students who desired to form a local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), presents this Court with questions requiring the application of well-established First Amendment principles. While the factual background of this particular case raises these constitutional issues in a manner not heretofore passed on by the Court, and only infrequently presented to lower federal courts, our decision today is governed by existing precedent.

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