Court Allows Student's Anti-Bush T-Shirt

Court Allows Student's Anti-Bush T-Shirt
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Friday, June 29, 2007

WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Putting its recent ruling on student speech into practice, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected a school district's appeal of a ruling that it violated a student's rights by censoring his anti-Bush T-shirt.

A seventh-grader from Vermont was suspended for wearing a shirt that bore images of cocaine and a martini glass — but also had 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."

After his suspension, Zachary Guiles returned to school with duct tape covering the offending 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.

An appeals court said the school had no right to censor any part of the shirt.

On Monday, the court said schools could regulate student expression if it advocated illegal drug use. Justice Samuel Alito cautioned that schools could not censor political speech.

The case is Marineau v. Guiles, 06-757.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/29/national/w072202...

Back Story--------

Student Free Speech Rights
Guiles v. Marineau

Issues

The case began in May 2004. Zachary Guiles was suspended from Williamstown Middle School for wearing a T-shirt that called President George Bush “Chicken-Hawk-in-Chief” who was engaged in a “World Domination Tour.”

Zachary was later allowed back in school, but he was told that he couldn`t wear the T-shirt unless he taped over certain pictures on the T-shirt -- pictures of a martini glass, lines of cocaine, straws, and razor blades.. The pictures were references to substance abuse problems President Bush is said to have had as a younger man. These problems were also described in words on the T-shirt. (See the T-shirt.)

The school claimed the display of the pictures violated the school’s dress policy, which prohibited all images of drugs, or drug paraphernalia, on student clothing. (Read the school’s dress policy.)

Zachary felt he had a right to wear the T-shirt under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. He was expressing a political opinion by wearing the shirt. He felt the school was trying to censor his opinion.

Zachary came to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU helps citizens when they think their constitutional rights have been violated. The ACLU of Vermont agreed to take Zachary’s case. The ACLU agreed with Zachary that he should be allowed to wear the T-shirt critical of the president.

ACLU.org
http://www.aclu.org/