Dear Colleagues,

We recently celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Tinker v. Des Moines, the seminal U.S. Supreme Court case which ruled that “students do not shed their constitutional rights at the school house gate.” K–12 public schools continue to grapple with the scope of students’ First Amendment rights. These controversies related to freedom of expression are not surprising; students are often at the forefront of social change.

As a result, complex questions often arise in courts and classrooms involving K–12 student speech. When examining these complicated legal and policy issues, K–12 public school officials must be careful to give students the ability to become thoughtful and politically active citizens; they must tread lightly on limiting students’ right to free expression. As Justice Brennan observed in Tinker, “[t]he vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools. The classroom is peculiarly the marketplace of ideas.”

The Tinker decision continues to be applied in many recent court cases. As a result, school officials rely on the decision to create policy related to posts on social media, regulating student attire (e.g., “Build the Wall” t-shirts), student walkouts related to climate change or gun violence, and political discussions in class. The First Amendment also protects teacher expression. Court decisions outline various limitations to teacher speech both inside and outside the classroom. This Special Issue will address K–12 students’ and teachers’ First Amendment rights and will also address related constitutional issues concerning students’ rights in schools. While the focus will be on U.S. schools, one piece will address student and teacher speech rights in Brazil.

Dr. Suzanne E. Eckes
Dr. Janet Decker
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Speech
• First Amendment
• Constitutional Rights
• Student Rights
• Teacher Rights