Island Trees Union Free School District Board of Education v. Pico

Plaintiff

Steven A. Pico, by his next friend, Frances Pico et al.

Defendant

Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 et al.

Plaintiff's Claim

That the Island Trees School System Board of Education was violating the First Amendment by banning books from the school libraries.

Chief Lawyer for Plaintiff

Alan H. Levine

Chief Defense Lawyer

George W. Lipp, Jr.

Justices for the Court

Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr. (writing for the Court), Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting

Warren E. Burger, Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William H. Rehnquist

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

25 June 1982.

Decision

The district court was in error in its summary judgment in its case that challenged a local school board's removal of library books.

Further Readings

• Hentoff, Nat. "Censoring the Right to Live." The Progressive, Februrary 1995, p. 19.
• Peck, Robert S. and Ann K. Symons. "Kids Have First Amendment Rights, Too." American Libraries, September 1997, p. 64.
• Seidman, Louis M., Gerald R. Stone, Cass R. Sunstein, Mark V. Tushnet. Constitutional Law. Little, Brown and Company: 1986.