Plyler v. Doe (1982)
Plyler v. Doe is a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court struck down a Texas statute that denied funding to local school districts for the education of children who were not "legally admitted" into the United States, and which authorized local school districts to deny enrollment to such children. The Court held that illegal aliens and their children, though not citizens of the United States or Texas, are people "in any ordinary sense of the term" and, therefore, are afforded Fourteenth Amendment protections and that since the state law severely disadvantaged the children of without a "compelling state interest” it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
The U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that children who are undocumented immigrants are entitled to attend public schools. The Court based its decision on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
- Full text: Plyler v. Doe (Nolo)
Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:27 pm
