High Court Considers Expelled Student's Free Speech Rights

The California Supreme Court on Thursday considered whether to let stand the criminal conviction of a 15-year-old boy who was expelled from school and served 100 days in juvenile hall for writing a poem that included a threat to kill students.

The case weighs free speech rights against the government's responsibility to provide safety in schools after campus shootings nationwide.

Attorneys for the San Jose boy, identified as George T. in court records, described the poem as youthful artistic expression. One passage says: "For I can be the next kid to bring guns to kill students at school." Another reads: "For I am Dark, Destructive & Dangerous."

"This is a classic case of a person expressing himself and trying to communicate his feelings through a poem," attorney Michael Kresser told the court, which gave no clear indication whether it would overturn the conviction.

While I realize that it's sometimes hard to tell a case of free speech and artistic expression from a case of a terroristic threat... if you're a government official, that is. This is why we have the First Amendment: speech cannot be a crime. The whole idea was to take the judgement call out of the hands of the government official, who will naturally make all his judgement calls so as to maximize the benefit to himself and to the government in general.

Under the First Amendment, this student and his parents might be asked a few questions about his poem. Likely his parents would search his room for weapons if they had any reason to be truly concerned. If they find weapons, or a plans to blow up the school, well, then maybe you have enough for a prison sentence. But if you don't find anything that suggests an actual plan, you have to respect the right to free speech that every citizen has.

At least, you would if the First Amendment was still valid. Lately the government seems to be attacking it with almost as much vigor as the Second.

Quibble about theaters and fire if you want, that's something else entirely.