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New laws in GOP-controlled states restricting how teachers and professors can discuss race and racism may be vulnerable to court challenges claiming they violate classroom free speech rights and students’ equal protection guarantees.
The statutes enacted or under consideration in several states often are criticized as vague and overbroad, both First Amendment violations. What educators can teach or discuss with students often is left unclear due to how the bills are worded, say education and constitutional law professors.
“If a law hasn’t put a reasonably intelligent person on notice of what it prohibits, then the law can’t be enforced against a person who doesn’t know what the law prescribes,” said Ronald Krotoszynski, a University of Alabama law professor who’s written about the restrictions’ constitutionality.
The state laws may also be subject to challenge on other grounds, including that lawmakers were motivated by racial animus, and that the prohibitions will disparately impact students of color and violate their rights to equal protection under the law. The latter argument’s strength is up for debate, however.
#criticalracetheory #education #students
Putting the state lawmakers' potential racist motivations aside, these laws against teachign critical race theory won't hold up in court. The laws are alledging that the class should be banned because it is not culturally appropriate to all cutures and backgrounds of students.
That is far from the truth, since it is designed to teach the social, economic, and political histories and realities of underrepresented groups of people. Would it not be culturally exclusive and inappropriate to ban such a course, and any related discussion about race relations between instructors and students?
Therefore, considerign that the course is not a danger to students' cultural wellbeing, but rather an aid to it, the laws are indeed violations of classroom free speech and equal protection among students from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds.