Case Categories: Academic Freedom

Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957) stands as the first U.S. Supreme Court case to expound upon the concept of academic freedom though some earlier cases mention it.

Most constitutional academic freedom issues today revolve around professors’ speech, students’ speech, faculty’s relations to government speech, and using affirmative action in student admissions. 

Although academic freedom is regularly invoked as a constitutional right under the First Amendment, the Court has never specifically enumerated it as one, and judicial opinions have not developed a consistent interpretation of constitutional academic freedom or pronounced a consistent framework to analyze such claims.

• Bishop v. Aronov (11th Circuit Court) (1991)

  The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the University of Alabama's actions to stop a professor from interjecting religious views in a physiology class in...

• Cohen v. San Bernardino Valley College (9th Cir.) (1996)

  In Cohen v. San Bernardino Valley College (9th Cir. 1996), a court said the sexual harassment policy of a college was too vague and violated the First Amendment...

• Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967)

  In Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967) was an important decision by the Supreme Court for the concept of academic freedom as a constitutionally protected value...

• Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957)

  Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957) overturned a contempt citation of professor who refused to disclose the contents of a speech. The Court said First Amendment...

• University of Pennsylvania v. EEOC (1990)

  University of Pennsylvania v. EEOC (1990) found that disclosure of documents related to tenure decisions did not infringe on First Amendment academic freedom...