The newspaper content must also pass the minimal disruption test set forth in the Supreme Court ruling on Tinker v. Des Moines (1969).
As a recent Legal News Advisory issued by the California Department of Education noted, these newspapers exist mainly to teach students the elements of journalism and to supplement the language arts curriculum.
Importantly, the issue of self-censorship was found to have created passivity among students and made them cynical about the guarantees of a free press under the First Amendment.
However, Educational Code 10611 was not completely clear, and thus the Legislature replaced it with the current statute, 48907, which now states that prior restraint is allowed only when student expression violates the specific prohibitions of Section 48907.
School officials shall have the burden of showing justification without undue delay prior to any limitation of student expression under this section.
Also, a school district rule which generally prohibits such potentially sensitive topics as pregnancy and divorce is not permitted by the statute.
In issues of school liability, often stemming from libel or defamation lawsuits, the majority opinion in Leeb v. DeLong 1988 stated that to impose a prior restraint requires the article to contain a "false statement ... likely to harm the reputation of another ..." and cannot be allowed "to hinge on the subjective pique" of a prospective plaintiff.
Smith sued the school district, and the Marin County Superior Court ruled against him; however, the First District Court of Appeal reversed the decision, stating that Code 48907 prohibits schools from censoring speech simply "because it presents controversial ideas and opponents of the speech are likely to cause disruption.