“ It seems incredible that under our federalism a State can deny a student education in its public school system unless his hair style comports with the standards of the school board.
Some institutions in Asia require their enrollees to shave their heads. Would we sustain that regulation if imposed by a public school?
Would we sustain a public school regulation requiring male students to have crew cuts? ”

“ The word 'liberty' is not defined in the Constitution. But as we held in Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510, it includes at least the fundamental rights 'retained by the people' under the Ninth Amendment. Id., at 484, 85 S.Ct., at 1681. One's hair style, like one's taste for food, or one's liking for certain kinds of music, art, reading, recreation, is certainly fundamental in our constitutional scheme-a scheme designed to keep government off the backs of people. [2] That is not to say that the police power of the state is powerless to deal with known evils. ”

“ Hair style is highly personal, [1] an idiosyncracy which I had assumed was left to family or individual control and was of no legitimate concern to the State. It seems to me to be as much a purely private choice as was the family-student decision, sustained against a State's prohibition, to study the German language in a public school. ”