[p. henry]

Why should a school board not have the right to determine which instructional materials are used in the schools it administers? Why should a court make that decision?

The 14th Amendment bars any state from depriving a citizen of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Presumably even the ACLU does not contend that the action of the board deprived students of their life or property. Is a student deprived of his liberty when the board decides which books it will stock in its library? If so, what procedure will satisfy the requirement that this deprivation of liberty is accomplished throught a due process of law?

The ACLU's expansive definition of liberty and fairly narrow definition of due process should be viewed as nothing more than an attempt by a liberal advocacy group to hinder actions by the executive and legislative branches of government of which it disapproves by subjecting those actions to judicial scrutiny and review.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Is a student deprived of his liberty when the board decides which books it will stock in its library? If so, what procedure will satisfy the requirement that this deprivation of liberty is accomplished throught a due process of law?"

The ACLU's logic would seem to require that every school board purchase every single book that is published, which is - of course - neither possible nor desirable. But if failure to purchase a particular book is evidence of "censorship," or of an infringement's of the students' liberty, it would seem to follow that they must buy every single book that is published. As you say, this is an incoherent application of the "due process" clause. An interpretation of the Constitution which demands the impossible cannot be the correct interpretation.