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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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 Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:11 am Post subject: |
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| Hollywoodaction wrote: |
| On the other hand wrote: |
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| A judge had to rule that kids can wear anti-Bush T-shirts to school. Heck, this should have been a no-brainer because free speech is guaranteed by your constitution. Isn't your constitution an absolute? |
Just because the constitution is an absolute doesn't mean that schools don't try to infringe upon it sometimes. It isn't as if the constitution itself has the physical power to stop schools from regulating dress codes. If schools try that, they can be stopped by a judge, which is what happened in the case you cite. |
Don't forget that schools are government entities. It would have been quite easy for the government to tell the schools to drop it, but they chose not to. |
This is incorrect. School districts are largely independent and set local policy. More so, virtually all policy on dress codes comes from the individual school.
So, no, only the court can legally direct the school to discontinue a policy if it is unconstitutional. |
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Pligganease
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: The deep south...
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| Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:46 am Post subject: |
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Why *beep*-foot around with the civics lesson? Why not just state it like it is?
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MONTPELIER, Vt. - A middle school that censored the anti-drug, anti-Bush message on a student's T-shirt violated the boy's right to free speech, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The shirt bore images of cocaine and a martini glass � in addition to messages calling President Bush a lying drunk driver who abused cocaine and marijuana, and the "chicken-hawk-in-chief" who was engaged in a "world domination tour."
Zachary Guiles, then a seventh-grader, wore the shirt once a week for two months in early 2004 and refused to cover the images after a parent and student complained. He was suspended for one day that May, and the next day wore the shirt with duct tape covering the images.
Williamstown Middle School Principal Kathleen Morris-Kortz said the images violated the school dress code, which prohibits clothing that promotes the use of drugs or alcohol.
But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said in a 3-0 ruling that the school had no right to censor any part of the shirt.
"The pictures are an important part of the political message Guiles wished to convey, accentuating the anti-drug (and anti-Bush) message," the appeals court wrote. "By covering them defendants diluted Guiles's message, blunting its force and impact."
Student pleased with ruling
After Guiles sued school officials in U.S. District Court in Vermont, a judge found that his First Amendment rights were violated but that the school could censor some images on the shirt.
Guiles, now 15, said he was pleased. "I think this is a very good sign that even with the current administration and the way the country is going there can still be a justice that allows free speech," he said.
The appeals court ruling sends the case back to the district court for further proceedings. |
It wasn't even about his shirt condemning Bush. 
So, why not just look at it like this? How is the United States coming closer to fascism when the courts unanimously upheld the boy's right to wear the shirt? It would be different had the court been split. However, it was unanimous. It was the court saying, essentially, that the boy's constitutional right to free speech was guaranteed.
So, who cares who has the beaurocratic ability to tell the schools what they can or can't do? In the end, his freedom prevailed.
If this is the best argument you, Hollywoodaction, can come up with to show that the US is edging closer to becoming Italy circa 1940, go ahead and give up. You've only shown how the US will never be anything close fascist. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:19 am Post subject: |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
| Hollywoodaction wrote: |
| On the other hand wrote: |
| Quote: |
| A judge had to rule that kids can wear anti-Bush T-shirts to school. Heck, this should have been a no-brainer because free speech is guaranteed by your constitution. Isn't your constitution an absolute? |
Just because the constitution is an absolute doesn't mean that schools don't try to infringe upon it sometimes. It isn't as if the constitution itself has the physical power to stop schools from regulating dress codes. If schools try that, they can be stopped by a judge, which is what happened in the case you cite. |
Don't forget that schools are government entities. It would have been quite easy for the government to tell the schools to drop it, but they chose not to. |
This is incorrect. School districts are largely independent and set local policy. More so, virtually all policy on dress codes comes from the individual school.
So, no, only the court can legally direct the school to discontinue a policy if it is unconstitutional. |
yup. hollywood, you might want to become more informed on how the US works before you get too worried about things here.  |
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