You all hear about this? High school kid unfurled a banner reading, “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” as the Olympic Torch passed by. His principal tore down the banner, then suspended the student for 10 days. Now Supreme Court is hearing the case. Ken Starr (yep, that Ken Starr) is representing the government.
Wonkette’s amusing write up is here, and the Wall Street Journal Online has some uptight readers.
Update: okay, minutes after I wrote the above, I found more recent information from the WSJ, saying that Alito had expressed doubt about Starr’s argument that the school should be able to limit speech that it believes is promoting drug use.
I’m not sure you have to go so far as to believe schools should allow speech promoting drug use. I think you just have to have a sense of humor.
After I stopped laughing, I tried to look at this from the point of view of the school. Teenage drug abuse actually is a sort of a big problem in Alaska (it’s Alaska, there’s not much else to do), so in that context the reaction of the principal isn’t as ridiculous. Then I looked at the photo of the sign and started laughing again. I have to agree with the kid. The sign is more an absurdist rant than a message promoting drug use. The best part though is that conservative Christian groups are joining forces with the ACLU in defense of the kid. With those two united, how can you lose? I think I’ll end up chalking this one up as another win for free speech and another loss for Ken “Still Looking for a Smoking Gun” Starr.