Originally posted by Speed55
It's a stupid banner, but how is it the fault of bush that the court ruled against them? I clicked the link and even watched the video and not once did they say mr. bush is for or against what happened.
Did you see who voted? This is exactly the pro-corporate, pro-government results Bush wanted from the SCOTUS when he appointed Roberts and Alito.
Seriously, this is a a frightening ruling by the highest court in the land, at least for those of us who do feel that our individual civil liberties are essential to a democracy.
Read this from Tinker v. Des Moines School District. This was the 1969 case about students wearing black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War & the principal suspended them. This decidely more liberal Supreme Court (than the current one) felt they were the guardians of free speech. ..... That Supreme Court said: (It's long but it's worth your time to read it.)
"It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. This has been the unmistakable holding of this Court for almost 50 years."
"The District Court concluded that the action of the school authorities was reasonable because it was based upon their fear of a disturbance from the wearing of the armbands. But, in our system, undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression. Any departure from absolute regimentation may cause trouble. Any variation from the majority's opinion may inspire fear. Any word spoken, in class, in the lunchroom, or on the campus, that deviates from the views of another person may start an argument or cause a disturbance. But our Constitution says we must take this risk, and our history says that it is this sort of hazardous freedom--this kind of openness--that is the basis of our national strength and of the independence and vigor of Americans who grow up and live in this relatively permissive, often disputatious, society"
It makes me sad to read that & see how far away from this our current Supreme Court is now. This current Court does not seem to see the Bill of Rights as the individual's constitutional protection from government abuse of power. C'mon, do we really need the gov't, in the form of the school & principal, to tell that kid, in America, he has no right to hold up a banner at a parade that says something as silly as "Bong Hits 4 Jesus"? Is it good for any of us that that kid LEGALLY has no right to put up that silly banner? Where was the harm? What's up next? Thought police? This isn't China or the former Soviet Union.
