A group of Fundamentalist parents are upset with required readings in classes at a public school in Tennessee. Specifically, they believe that certain required readings promote secular humanism and undermine the religious beliefs of their children. They complain that Harry Potter books required in the seventh-grade favorably portray witchcraft. They complain that a senior-high physics book suggests that the Big Bang provides a credible explanation of the origin of the universe. Finally, they complain that biographies required in a tenth-grade history class promote feminism and the notion that women should find work outside the home. The Fundamentalist parents wonder whether the required readings violate either the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause. They would either like to have a court order the curriculum be changed or that their students be exempted from objectionable required reading and instruction.
a) Define prior restraint. Define time place and manner restraints.
b) What do you tell the parents of the children? Is their request denied? On what case(s) is this denial (or support) based?