The plaintiffs' claims include the contention that they are entitled to relief under
42 U.S.C. § 1983 because the defendant's policy violates the students' freedom of speech contrary to the constitutional limitations in the First Amendment made applicable to the defendant by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment declaring that the subject policy is unconstitutional on its face and as applied to the newspaper. The defendant has moved for summary judgment of dismissal of all of the plaintiffs' claims. It is clear from the briefs and extensive supporting materials that there are genuine issues of material fact prohibiting summary determination of the claims other than those asserted in the plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment. Accordingly, the questions now to be decided are whether the distribution of
Issues and Answers by students to students in a non-disruptive manner comes within the protection of the First Amendment and whether the defendant's policy restricting distribution is in contravention of that constitutional limitation on governmental authority. At oral argument it was agreed that the copies of
Issues and Answers submitted with the papers filed in support of the respective motions for summary judgment are representative of the newspaper. While the articles involve an array of subjects of interest to adolescents, it is fair to characterize their content as promoting non-denominational Christian principles. Plaintiffs are not, however, claiming any infringement of rights protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
Issues and Answers also has some political content.