Perry v. Sindermann
(Learn how and when to remove this message) 1972 United States Supreme Court case
Perry v. Sindermann |
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Argued January 18, 1972 Decided June 29, 1972 |
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Full case name | Perry, et al. v. Sindermann |
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Citations | 408 U.S. 593 (more) 92 S. Ct. 2694; 33 L. Ed. 2d 570 |
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Case history |
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Prior | Sindermann v. Perry, 430 F.2d 939 (5th Cir. 1970), cert. granted, 403 U.S. 917 (1971). |
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Holding |
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Lack of a contractual or tenure right to re-employment, taken alone, did not defeat respondent's claim that the nonrenewal of his contract violated his free speech right under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. |
Court membership |
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- Chief Justice
- Warren E. Burger
- Associate Justices
- William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan Jr.
Potter Stewart · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist |
Case opinions |
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Majority | Stewart, joined by Burger, White, Blackmun, Rehnquist |
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Concurrence | Burger |
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Dissent | Brennan, joined by Douglas |
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Dissent | Marshall |
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Powell took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. |
Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593 (1972), was a United States Supreme Court decision affecting educational case law involving tenure and due process.
Facts
Sindermann was a teacher at several schools in the state college system of the State of Texas under a system of one-year contracts from 1959 to 1969. In 1965, he became a professor at Odessa Junior College, where he was successful enough to be appointed department co-chair for a time. During the 1968-1969 academic year, Sindermann became involved in public disagreements with the policies of the Board of Regents as president of the Texas Junior College Teachers Association. In May 1969, his one-year contract was terminated and was not renewed. The Regents issued a press release alleging insubordination, but no official hearing was provided Sindermann to contest the basis for non-renewal.
Issues
- Does a non-tenured teacher still have due process rights as provided by the Fourteenth Amendment by a de facto tenure policy created by rules and policy?
- Were Sindermann's Fourteenth Amendment due process rights violated?
Decision
In an opinion written by Justice Stewart, the court decided that Sindermann had alleged enough facts to show that he was entitled to some kind of process and that the lack of a contractual or tenure right taken alone did not defeat his claim that the nonrenewal of his contract violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. While Sindermann did not have tenure per se, his length of service at his last institution (more than the four years mentioned as the probationary period for a full-time instructor in the “Policy Paper 1” guidelines), he had asserted that he had de facto tenure.
The court pointed to Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564 (1972), as an example of a non-tenured teacher not having a claim for a hearing. However, Sindermann was able to point to the policy paper as providing an expectancy of treatment as if being tenured, the expectancy gave him a viable claim that he had a property interest in the job such that it could fall under the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The court ruled that "the respondent must be given an opportunity to prove the legitimate of his claim of such entitlement in light of the policies and practices of the institution. Proof of such a property interest would not, of course, entitle him to reinstatement. But such proof would obligate college officials to grant a hearing at his request, where he could be informed of the grounds for his non-retention and challenge their sufficiency."
The problem that the court faced was that without having a record of a hearing of Sindermann’s non-renewal, the court was unable to determine if Sindermann’s First Amendment right to free speech had been violated since there was no documented reason for the non-renewal. The court required for Sindermann to be given a hearing at which it could be determined if his First Amendment rights had been violated by the Regents' refusal to renew his contract for his public utterances.
Justice Powell took no part in the decision.
Justice Brennan dissented in part, joined by Justice Douglas, place who wrote that since the respondent was denied due process, he should be entitled to summary judgment on that issue.
Justice Marshall also dissented.
See also
Further reading
- Rosenbloom, David H. (1975). "Public Personnel Administration and the Constitution: An Emergent Approach". Public Administration Review. 35 (1). Public Administration Review, Vol. 35, No. 1: 52–59. doi:10.2307/975201. JSTOR 975201.
External links
- Text of Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593 (1972) is available from: Findlaw Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)
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Public displays and ceremonies | |
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Statutory religious exemptions | |
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Public funding | |
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Religion in public schools | |
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Private religious speech | |
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Internal church affairs | |
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Taxpayer standing | |
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Blue laws | |
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Other | |
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Unprotected speech | Incitement and sedition | |
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Libel and false speech | |
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Fighting words and the heckler's veto | |
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True threats | |
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Obscenity | - Rosen v. United States (1896)
- United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (S.D.N.Y. 1933)
- Roth v. United States (1957)
- One, Inc. v. Olesen (1958)
- Smith v. California (1959)
- Marcus v. Search Warrant (1961)
- MANual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day (1962)
- Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964)
- Quantity of Books v. Kansas (1964)
- Ginzburg v. United States (1966)
- Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966)
- Redrup v. New York (1967)
- Ginsberg v. New York (1968)
- Stanley v. Georgia (1969)
- United States v. Thirty-seven Photographs (1971)
- Kois v. Wisconsin (1972)
- Miller v. California (1973)
- Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton (1973)
- United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film (1973)
- Jenkins v. Georgia (1974)
- Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad (1975)
- Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville (1975)
- Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. (1976)
- Vance v. Universal Amusement Co., Inc. (1980)
- American Booksellers Ass'n, Inc. v. Hudnut (7th Cir. 1985)
- People v. Freeman (Cal. 1988)
- United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. (1994)
- Reno v. ACLU (1997)
- United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. (2000)
- City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc. (2002)
- Ashcroft v. ACLU I (2002)
- United States v. American Library Ass'n (2003)
- Ashcroft v. ACLU II (2004)
- Nitke v. Gonzales (S.D.N.Y. 2005)
- United States v. Williams (2008)
- American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression v. Strickland (6th Cir. 2009)
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- United States v. Stevens (2010)
- Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n (2011)
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Speech integral to criminal conduct | |
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Strict scrutiny | |
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Vagueness | |
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Symbolic speech versus conduct | |
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Content-based restrictions | |
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Content-neutral restrictions | |
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Compelled speech | |
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Compelled subsidy of others' speech | |
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Government grants and subsidies | |
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Government as speaker | |
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Loyalty oaths | |
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School speech | |
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Public employees | |
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Hatch Act and similar laws | |
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Licensing and restriction of speech | |
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Commercial speech | - Valentine v. Chrestensen (1942)
- Rowan v. U.S. Post Office Dept. (1970)
- Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Comm'n on Human Relations (1973)
- Lehman v. Shaker Heights (1974)
- Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar (1975)
- Bigelow v. Virginia (1975)
- Virginia State Pharmacy Bd. v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976)
- Linmark Assoc., Inc. v. Township of Willingboro (1977)
- Carey v. Population Services International (1977)
- Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977)
- In re Primus (1978)
- Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Association (1978)
- Friedman v. Rogers (1979)
- Consol. Edison Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n (1980)
- Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission (1980)
- Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego (1981)
- In re R.M.J. (1982)
- Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. (1982)
- Zauderer v. Off. of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio (1985)
- Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California (1986)
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- San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. U.S. Olympic Committee (1987)
- Shapero v. Kentucky Bar Association (1988)
- Riley v. Nat'l Fed'n of the Blind (1988)
- State University of New York v. Fox (1989)
- Peel v. Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of Illinois (1990)
- City of Cincinnati v. Discovery Network (1993)
- Edenfield v. Fane (1993)
- United States v. Edge Broadcasting Co. (1993)
- Ibanez v. Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation, Bd. of Accountancy (1994)
- Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. (1995)
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- Los Angeles Police Department v. United Reporting Publishing Co. (1999)
- United States v. United Foods Inc. (2001)
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- Nike, Inc. v. Kasky (2003)
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- Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)
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- Vidal v. Elster (2024)
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Campaign finance and political speech | |
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Anonymous speech | |
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State action | |
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Official retaliation | |
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Boycotts | |
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Prisons | |
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Organizations | |
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Future Conduct | |
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Solicitation | |
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Membership restriction | |
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Primaries and elections | |
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