Fowler v. Board of Education: The Scope of Teachers' Free Speech Rights

Abstract

On its distinctive facts, Fowler v. Board of Education of Lincoln County, Kentucky' is almost ideally suited as a vehicle for reexamining some of the "deeper" issues associated with the in-school speech of public high school teachers in particular and with free speech law in general. In light of its facts and the prior case law, it is hardly surprising that Fowler evoked three separate and distinct responses from the Sixth Circuit panel deciding the case. This Article, through a shift in the formulation of the precise issues presented, presents a fourth approach. The justification for this apparently perverse multiplication of complexity is simply that it allows us to see the virtues of each of the three approaches taken by the Sixth Circuit, while, at the same time, enabling us to examine each approach's limitations under the circumstances of Fowler.