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Meet Real-Life Sybil Liberties--Students who Challenged School Policies with the Help of the ACLU

Document Date: December 31, 1996

Demanding that your school respect constitutional principles takes courage and conviction. Rules and practices that don't respect the rights of everyone are often supported by a majority of students, teachers or parents, and going against the grain of any majority can be very difficult. Meet some students who had the courage to defend the Constitution by taking a stand against school practices they believed to be wrong.

Deborah Weisman

Deborah fought for the separation of church and state, and sued her school in Rhode Island to stop it from having graduation prayers.

James Acton

James is challenging his Oregon school district's drug testing policy, on the basis of the Fourth Amendment's right "to be secure in our persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches."

Josh Berger

Josh and his father fought against the distribution of Bibles in his Indiana school every year, arguing that it violates the separation of church and state.

Jeff and Jon Pyle

Jeff and Jon are brothers from Massachusetts who sued their school after it tried to prevent them from wearing certain T-shirts.

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