Goss v. Lopez 1975
| Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
| Pages | 415-419 |
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Appellants: Norval Goss, et al.
Appellees: Dwight Lopez, et al.
Appellants' Claim: That Ohio schools did not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by suspending public school students without a hearing.
Chief Lawyer for Appellants: Thomas A. Bustin
Chief Lawyer for Appellees: Peter D. Roos
Justices for the Court: William J. Brennan, Jr., William O. Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, Potter Stewart, Byron R. White
Justices Dissenting: Harry A. Blackmun, Warren E. Burger, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William H. Rehnquist
Date of Decision: January 22, 1975
Decision: The Supreme Court decided that the Ohio schools did violate the Due Process Clause.
Significance: Goss requires public schools to give students a chance to explain their conduct before or soon after suspending them from school.
The American justice system is supposed to be fair. When a person is accused of breaking a law, fairness means giving him notice of the charges against him. Fairness also means holding a hearing or trial to
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give the accused a chance to defend himself. Punishing a person without notice and a hearing is very un-American.
The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects Americans from unfair treatment by state governments. It says states may not take away life, liberty, or property without "due process of law." Due process usually means notice and a hearing. In Goss v. Lopez, the U.S. Supreme Court had to decide whether public schools may suspend students for up to ten days without notice or a hearing.
In the early 1970s, an Ohio law allowed public school principals to suspend students for up to ten days without a hearing. Demonstrations related to the Vietnam War and other public issues of the day resulted in a lot of suspensions. Dwight Lopez was a student at Central High School in Columbus, Ohio. Lopez was suspended along with 75 other students after a lunchroom disturbance that damaged school property. Although Lopez said he did not destroy anything, the school suspended him without a hearing and without explaining what he did wrong.
Betty Crome, who attended McGuffey Junior High School in Columbus, attended a demonstration at another high school. The police arrested Crome and many others during the demonstration, but released Crome without charges at the police station. The next day, Crome learned that she had been suspended...
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