Goss v. Lopez 419 U.S. 565 (1975)
GOSS v. LOPEZ 419 U.S. 565 (1975)
Ohio law authorized a public school principal to suspend a misbehaving student for up to ten days, without a hearing. A 5–4 Supreme Court held that this law violated a student's right to procedural due process. For the majority, Justice byron r. white found a " property " interest in the state's statute setting out a student's "entitlement" to attend school, and a "liberty" interest in the loss of reputation attending suspension for misconduct. While trivial school discipline might not require any hearing, a ten-day suspension demanded notice of the charges against the student, and, if the charges were denied, an explanation of the evidence and an opportunity to present his or her story. Justice lewis f. powell, a former school board president, led the dissenters. The statute authorizing suspension gave only a conditional entitlement to attend school—as Justice william h. rehnquist had argued in arnett v. kennedy (1974)—and the injury to reputation was not serious enough to invade a "liberty" interest. Thus, Powell argued, the school discipline here did "not assume constitutional dimensions."
Kenneth L. Karst
(1986)