Corry v. The Leland Stanford Junior University

No. 740309 (1995)

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Corry v. The Leland Stanford Junior University

California Superior Court
No. 740309 (1995)

RW

Facts

The Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford) (defendant) was a private school expressly founded to educate members of the public in the liberal arts. Stanford student Robert Corry (plaintiff) sued to enjoin enforcement of Stanford’s speech code, which Corry saw as a violation of his constitutional rights to free speech. The California Supreme Court rejected Stanford’s argument that the speech code was content-neutral and aimed only at deterring “fighting words” likely to incite violent conduct. The court agreed with Corry that the speech code was also content-based, aimed at deterring race-related or gender-related statements likely to offend some individuals but unlikely to spark violence. The court also agreed with Corry that a California education law known as the Leonard Law extended constitutional free-speech protection to students in private institutions like Stanford. The court then turned to Stanford’s argument that the Leonard Law should be struck down as an unconstitutional intrusion on Stanford’s own rights to free speech.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Stone, J.)

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