Goss V. LOPEZ Essay

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GOSS v. LOPEZ, Supreme Court of the United States, 1975. 419 U.S. 565, 95 S.Ct. 729, 42, L.Ed.2d 725 deals with students that were suspended. The Columbus Ohio Public School System (CPSS) was sued by students. Nine students claimed that they were suspended without being given a hearing before their suspension, or even after their suspensions were over. Ohio law requires that the parents of suspended students are to be notified within 24 hours of the suspension, and the principal must state the reasons for the suspension. Six of the nine students attended school at Marion-Franklin High School. They were suspended for disruptive and disobedient behavior. Two others, Dwight Lopez and Betty Crome, attended Central High School and McGuffey Junior High School. They were suspended for an incident in the school lunchroom that caused some property damage. Again, all students claimed their rights to the due process clause of the 14th amendment were violated. The major purpose of the due process clause is for a person to be heard. It basically gives a person the chance to defend accusations that are being made against them. It clearly states that students must be given some type of prior notice, and they must be given some type of arena to hear and defend those accusations. …show more content…

They were all suspended without being given a hearing prior to their suspension, or they weren’t given a hearing within a reasonable time after their suspension. Federal court mandated that the suspensions of the students be removed from their cumulative record. The Columbus Public School System and school board appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the due process clause of the 14th amendment had been violated. SCOTUS ruled 5-4 in favor of the students of the Columbus Public School