Discriminatory Censorship Laws

Authors

Jonathan Feingold, Boston University School of LawFollow
Joshua Weishart, West Virginia University College of Law

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

ISSN

0041-3992

Publisher

Tulane University School of Law

Language

en-US

Abstract

The summer of 2020 ignited global protests for racial justice. Across the United States, millions marched with a modest plea: that America reckon with its racism. For K-12 schools, this moment pushed local communities and district leaders to create more inclusive classrooms and curricula. Yet before the summer had ended, America's antiracist turn provoked a backlash campaign that has proven far more impactful and enduring.

This campaign has featured the rise and spread of "discriminatory censorship laws"-a term we apply to government action designed to demean inclusionary values and to deny students access to critical knowledge, inquiry, and thinking. As of January 2024, over 20 states and 145 school districts had enacted at least one discriminatory censorship law regulating K-12 schools. These laws cover over 1.3 million educators and nearly half the nation's 50 million public school students. Many have analyzed the legality of discriminatory censorship laws. Few have systematically assessed their impact. This Article fills that gap by synthesizing otherwise siloed research. Drawing on this scholarship, we identify two overarching threats discriminatory censorship laws pose to students, educators, and public education writ large: (1) hostile learning environments and (2) miseducation. We also surface how discriminatory censorship laws have spread notwithstanding their lack of popular support. Albeit unpopular, this ongoing campaign of discriminatory censorship is unlikely to relent absent an equally committed and coordinated response.

Comments

forthcoming in Tulane Law Review

Recommended Citation

Jonathan Feingold & Joshua Weishart, Discriminatory Censorship Laws , in Tulane Law Review (2024).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3913