Date of Defense

4-21-2026

Date of Graduation

5-2026

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Mark Hurwitz

Second Advisor

Lauren Foley

Third Advisor

Patricia Montilla

Abstract

This thesis explores how the Supreme Court’s power of selecting its own docket has resulted in fewer cases being addressed annually and its effect on minors’ First Amendment rights. Minors’ First Amendment rights is one of the many niche areas of law that do not receive hearings in front of the Supreme Court. My research shows that the Supreme Court’s neglect of these issues led to Court of Appeals taking on the role of a court of last resort. As precedent from select Supreme Court cases such as Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986), Morse v. Frederick (2007), and Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. (2021) is applied, the Courts of Appeals take different approaches in different circuits, stretching and molding applications in an attempt to comply with the little, unclear precedent they have. I discuss and introduce the Supreme Court’s evolution, the court system generally, and Supreme Court cases that form the precedential body. Then I discuss multiple Courts of Appeals cases dealing with the issue and the application of precedent or deviation from it. I found that circuits have significantly different approaches, such as creating internal precedential bodies, ignoring other circuits and deciding independently, or attempting to stretch partial fact patterns to apply to new cases. This results in a fragmentation of First Amendment rights and reveals more generally how a lack of information from the Supreme Court forms a bottom-up system where rights’ protections vary by geography.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

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