In a trio of decisions yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld basic freedoms conferred to us in the Bill of Rights.
The most important of these rulings comes from a case that made its way to the High Court from Mahanay School District here in Pa. A high school girl who failed to make the varsity cheerleading squat vented with vulgarities on Snapchat. She did so, not at school, but off campus. The school suspended her from the team.
In a 8-1 ruling written by Justice Stephen Breyer ruled that a student's off campus speech is generally the responsibility of a student's parents. The school does have an interest in regulating some kinds of off campus speech like bullying or threats.
In a case involving "hot pursuit," a divided Supreme Court ruled that in minor cases, police officers should generally obtain a warrant before entering someone's home. This is a vindication of the Fourth Amendment.
Finally, the court ruled 6-3 that state regulation allowing union organizers to come onto an employer's property in an attempt to speak to workers is an unlawful taking of that employer's private property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The regulation in question allowed organizers to enter the property three hours per day, 120 days per year. It provided no compensation to the owner.
All well and good, but let me know when the reaffirm the right to say things like "there are only two genders" and "all lives matter."
ReplyDeleteIn fact, how about they reaffirm that differences of opinion are not criminal offenses.
So the DUI driver, three times over the limit, should be allowed to run into his home every time he's pursued?
ReplyDeleteThe First Amendment seems very unpopular amongst those in the education business.
ReplyDeleteGreat headline. In other news the sun will rise in the east. LOL
ReplyDelete"All well and good, but let me know when the reaffirm the right to say things like 'there are only two genders' and 'all lives matter.' In fact, how about they reaffirm that differences of opinion are not criminal offenses."
ReplyDeleteLet me guess: no one came to arrest you for your boorish ideas.
8:36
ReplyDeleteNot yet. Give it a couple more election cycles.
Thumbs up, 11:57AM
ReplyDelete@ 2:26 the first amendment was and is still a great thing when people are actually held accountable for what they say and the lies that they tell. Historically liars were called out and often identified as lying sacks of crap or politicians. Today however the American populace idolizes them, encourages them, rewards them and elevates them to levels well beyond what they should be. We continue to teach our children to revere f'ups, failures, and fools.
ReplyDeleteTo all of you on this blog, try to think of the last time you told someone you thought a public figure (influencer, sports player, public figure, politician, etc) was a liar, fake, or failure and should not be idolized. And to take it one step further ask yourself if you have applied the same evaluation equally. Likely most have not done the first and even fewer can honestly say they have done the second. Hypocrites be most all of us.