The United States Supreme Court finished its 2006-2007 term this week with a bang. As I mentioned last week, the Court still had some rather controversial cases left to decided as it entered its last week of session. The court did not disappoint . . . at least when it came to creating a controversy. The week started off with the Court holding that students do not have the right to engage in speech that contradicts a school policy against illegal activity. The policy in question was a school's anti-drug policy. The speech in question was a sign with the words "Bong Hits for Jesus" on it. In a 5-4 decision, the majority of the Court concluded that schools have the right to restrict student speech that advocates illegal behavior. In this case, a majority of the Court concluded that the sign was a pro-drug message, even if the student who created the sign didn't intend it to be. Many legal scholars see this as a narrow ruling, but at least three justices on the Court appear to be willing to give schools significantly more power to restrict student speech.
The Court's final decision, handed down yesterday, was every bit as controversial, if not more. The Court, in another 5-4 decision, struck down school policies that used race as a deciding factor in determining where a student would attend school. At issue was a policy intended to create racial balance in schools that resulted in students being bused across town to achieve this racial balance. This scheme had its origins in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, which said that separate schools for blacks and whites could never be equal. While the Court ruling yesterday doesn't overturn Brown or cases that allow for affirmative action, it seems to severely limit government's ability to create diversity by using race as a factor. The Court basically said that the policy in question was not necessary to serve the states compelling interest. What other means the state could have used to create racial balance in its schools is left unsaid by the majority of the Court. The dissenters, on the other hand, claim the majority ignored past precedent and basically overturned past precedent without expressly doing so. This decision appears to be part of a larger strategy to limit the reach of past precedent that many conservatives believe were incorrectly decided, without actually overruling the precedent.
Interesting times at the United States Supreme Court and surely proof that the judicial appointments made by President Bush two years ago have made an enormous impact on the direction of the Court.
