ubject matter involves religion. Court decisions on the issue generally fall into two categories. A minority of decisions hold that schools can prohibit the distribution of any publication that is not sponsored by the school. Of course, the ban must be applied even-handedly to all student publications. A school could not, for example, allow the distribution of political literature while barring religious publications. This is particularly evident in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Westside Community School Board v. Mergens, upholding the federal Equal Access Act. Under this minority view, however, a blanket prohibition on all student publications would be permissible. The majority of courts take a different view. These courts hold that while schools may place some restrictions of the distribution of student publications, they may not ban them altogether. The courts base their decisions on the landmark case of Tinker v. Des Moines School District, which upheld the right of students to wear black armbands protesting the Vietnam War, even in a public school. Included in this right of free speech is not only the right to speak for oneself but also to distribute the writings (i.e., speech) of others. Thus, courts have generally upheld the rights of students to distribute nonschool publications subject to the school's right to suppress such publications if they create substantial disruption, harm the rights of other students or infringe upon other compelling interests of the school. Again, the Mergens decision makes clear that the fear of a First Amendment violation is not sufficient justification to suppress a student publication that happens to be religious. Just because schools may not prohibit the distribution of all student materials does not mean that schools have no control over what may be distributed on school premises. On the contrary, courts have repeatedly held that schools may place reasonable "time, place and manner" re...
