Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School District 205 Case Summary | Law Case Explained

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Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205 | 391 U.S. 563 (1968)

Pickering versus Board of Education of Township High School District 205 is the story of what happened when a public high school teacher wrote a letter to his local paper criticizing his employer and got fired for insubordination.

Marvin Pickering taught at a high school in Will County, Illinois. In 1964, he wrote a long letter to the local newspaper criticizing the local board of education’s allocation of public funding between educational and athletic programs.

The board dismissed Pickering for publishing this letter. At a post-dismissal hearing, the board found that Pickering’s statements were false and would create disruptions and conflicts, and that the letter unjustifiably impugned the board’s motives. The board concluded that Pickering’s letter was detrimental to the efficient operation and administration of district schools, and that the interests of the schools required his dismissal.

Pickering sued the board in county court, claiming that his letter was protected by the First Amendment right to free speech. The board contended that a public school teacher had a duty of loyalty to support his superiors. Pickering countered that public school teachers should be held to the same standard that would apply to anyone not employed by the board, under which, to be legally actionable, a statement had to be made with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.

The trial court found that there was substantial evidence supporting the board’s determination that the letter was detrimental to the school system’s interests, and that these interests overrode Pickering’s First Amendment rights. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed. It held that, by accepting a position as a public school teacher, Pickering had foregone the right to make critical statements about the operation of schools. The United States Supreme Court granted cert.

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