Supreme Court rejects teacher's appeal
An elementary-school teacher who was dismissed after telling her class on the eve of the Iraq war that "I honk for peace" has lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal. The justices denied a hearing to Deborah Mayer, who had appealed lower-court decisions upholding an Indiana school district's refusal to renew her contract in June 2003. The most-recent ruling, by a federal appeals court in Chicago, says teachers in public schools have no constitutional right to express personal opinions in the classroom.