Bong Hits 4 Jesus

A fiend of mine complained that I hadn't said any thing about the Bong Hits for Jesus case. I guess there are two reasons. First, the mere mention of that sanctimonius Ken Starr makes me froth at the mouth and throw heavy things through windows. Second, I was so thoroughly wrapped in the free speech aspects, I overlooked that it was a drug case as well. It's time to correct my oversight.

A public highschool was dismissed so the students could attend the procession of an olympic torch through town. On student displayed a large banner at the parade: "Bong Hits 4 Jesus". He was expelled.

The Fourteenth amendment defines an American citizen as (among others) anyone born in the United States. It does not establish an age limit on citizenship or its rights. The Supreme Court (in Tucker) recognized that even school children have First Amendment rights and upheld the wearing of protest armbands in the classroom. Cases have been more restrictive about school control over out-of-school activities (like web pages). Students have the right of free speech, even in school, unless their behavior in so speaking is disruptive.

Outside the school, off the school grounds, our student has the right to wave any banner he wants, even one saying "Mission Accomplished" and even while wearing Mr. Cohen's "Fuck the Draft" jacket.

During argument, the CJ suggested that the School Board had a duty to impart a point of view and a duty to teach more than math. Kenny boy even claimed the banner wasn't speech, it was a drug act.

But education is not instilling propaganda; it is not forcing only one side of an issue into empty heads for memorized recitation. Education is the art of teaching students how to apply reasoned judgment to determined facts to reach sensible conclusions. I suspect that "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" (once the giggling stopped) would generate much more honest and productive discussion of drugs than does hundreds of hours of force-fed DARE propaganda.

In the early 1940s, the court upheld the forced recitation in school of the pledge of allegiance in an opinion by Frankfurter stating that the school's duty was to instill a sense of patriotism and community in the students.

Two years later -- in the middle of WWII when patriotism was at its highest -- the court reversed that decision; and in Barnette set aside the coerced saying of the pledge. Justice Jackson, writing for the Court, created the most perfect, most important statement of the major principle of American democracy:

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us."

In spite of what I said above, I suggest that the Chief Justice and Kenny boy memorize that passage (and you, too, boys and girls), recite it each day and ponder its meaning.