ABSTRACT
In the USA education debates have frequently been acrimonious, and have never been finally resolved. In the process of deciding debates, at least temporarily, recourse has often been made to the supreme courts, either at the state level or the federal level. The principal role of the supreme courts is to decide whether particular activities are permissible under the terms of the relevant constitution. The practical consequence of this has been that many educational debates have been argued in terms of the constitution, and whether particular policies are or are not constitutional. The various constitutions, and particularly the federal constitution, have been of central importance in educational debates.
