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The due process clause of the 14th Amendment also protects individuals from arbitrary or unwarranted stigmatization by the state that may interfere with the ability to acquire property (Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 1971). More specifically, the courts have ruled that a school may not label a child as “mentally retarded” or “emotionally disturbed” without due process, that is, without some sort of fair decision-making procedure that includes parent notice of the proposed classification and the right to an impartial hearing to protest the classification (see ssss1).

As noted previously, the 14th Amendment also protects the basic personal freedoms of citizens outlined in the Bill of Rights from arbitrary infringement by the state. The First and Fourth Amendments are important sources of fundamental rights.

In 1969, the Supreme Court decided an important case concerning student rights in the public schools, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. This case involved three students who were suspended from school for violating a school policy prohibiting students from wearing black armbands in protest of the war in Vietnam. In Tinker, the Court recognized the need to balance the school’s interest in maintaining discipline in order to foster learning and the fundamental personal freedoms guaranteed citizens in the Bill of Rights. In the Court’s view, the school’s policy of banning armbands was an unreasonable violation of the students’ constitutional right to freedom of expression because there was no evidence that the silent wearing of armbands interfered with or disrupted the functioning of the school.