Goss Vs Lopez Case Study

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Case Study

Citation:
Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. (1975).

Topic:
The topic in the case of Goss v. Lopez is in regards to the amount of due processing required to students in the case of suspensions. This relates to the rights guaranteed through the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution. The topic here focuses on the question of whether or not the right of due process could apply to education in the public school setting at the time of the case in 1974. Therefore, did the principal deny the students their rights by not allowing due process to occur before the suspensions were given?

Relief Sought:
In the case of Goss v. Lopez, the relief that was sought was a declaration from the state of Ohio that such suspensions would be considered …show more content…

Students were not provided with due processing before they were given their 10 day suspensions. Due to the students not receiving a hearing or a change to speak on their own behalf a class-action suit was filed which claimed that their fourteenth amendment rights had been violated. This would require prior notice and an opportunity to be heard for each of the students. At the time the Ohio law did not require principals to hold hearings for students before giving suspensions. The defendant of this case was listed as Norval Goss who was the director of pupil personnel for the Columbus school …show more content…

According to this court, the right to an education is given to all people according to Ohio law between the ages of 6 and 21. Ohio could not withdraw this right on the grounds of misconduct when procedures were not provided to fairly support the students right to their education through due processing. Therefore, the right of due processing could not be taken away and the court sided with the students.
It was after this court case that the school district then took the case to the Supreme Court. Justice Byron White provided the decision of the court. It was stated that this case involved the understanding of the Due Process Clause and how an Ohio stateute which allowed for principals in an Ohio school to suspend a student for up to 10 days without any provisions for hearing the student’s case before or after the suspension. The Supreme Court agreed with the district court in that the students have a right to public education. Therefore school authorities could not take away from them without the ability to present their case, provide evidence, and provide their side of the case before or within a certain amount of time of their suspension. In the end, the court found that the suspensions involved in this case did not allow for hearing before or after the suspension. Therefore, each suspension was invalid and could

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