Board of Education V. PICO Term Paper

Total Length: 643 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

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Summations by Supreme Court Justices Brennan and Blackmun clearly express why the court voted in favor of the plaintiffs in this important case. First of all, Justice Brennan maintains that the case "does not involve textbooks, or indeed any books that... students would be required to read. The only books at issue are library books (which) are optional rather than required reading." What Brennan is attempting to say is that the students at Island Trees were not being forced to read the so-called "filth," but if they chose to read these books, their rights as protected under the First Amendment allowed them to read as much or as little as they pleased.

Similarly, Justice Blackmun asserts that the books in question may not be removed from library shelves "for the purpose of restricting access to the political ideas or social perspectives" of the authors.
Also, these books cannot be removed if "the actions (of the board members) are motivated simply by the... disapproval of the ideas involved" in the disputed books. In other words, Blackmun is indicating that if the board members object to the content of these books, they cannot simply remove them from the shelves for this reason alone. In essence, this entire case is nothing short of plain and outright censorship, due to the fact that the board members, being very conservative and most probably very religious, find the materials objectionable and feel that no one should be allowed to read the material. However, since the First Amendment guarantees a person's right to read whatever he/she pleases, the board members do not have the right to restrict access to "objectionable" material simply because they view it as vulgar, immoral and "filthy.".....

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"Board Of Education V PICO", 22 June 2007, Accessed.27 April. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/board-education-pico-37034