A group of high school students, led by Steven Pico— who was only seventeen at the time—challenged the school board and eventually got the case heard by the Supreme Court. Pico won. Kind of. Writing for a 5–4 plurality, Justice William Brennan reaffirmed that children do not “shed their constitutional rights . . . at the school house gate” and said that the First Amendment included the right not just to express ideas but also to receive them, validating Pico’s First Amendment concerns.
