In the case of Board of Education of Rogers, Arkansas, et al. v. McCluskey in 1981, the U.S Supreme Court addressed a dispute over student discipline and due process rights. The plaintiff was a high school student who had been suspended for ten days without being given an opportunity to challenge his punishment before it took effect. He argued that this violated his constitutional right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. However, the court ruled against him on grounds that he did not have a property or liberty interest in public education sufficient enough to trigger procedural protections under Due Process Clause since there were no allegations about damage to reputation or imposition of stigma by suspension from school which could affect future employment prospects or educational opportunities.

In the dissenting opinion for Board of Education of Rogers, Arkansas v. McCluskey, Justice Brennan argued that the majority's decision to uphold a school board policy allowing corporal punishment was misguided and failed to protect students' constitutional rights. He contended that such policies were inherently cruel and unusual punishments which violated the Eighth Amendment. Furthermore, he asserted that these practices disproportionately affected minority students and those with disabilities - groups already marginalized within society. Brennan also criticized the majority's reliance on parental consent as justification for corporal punishment in schools; he suggested this approach undermined children’s individual rights by treating them as mere extensions of their parents rather than independent citizens entitled to constitutional protections against state-imposed harm or humiliation.