Thursday, June 28, 2007
crossposted at volokh
I noticed today that the plaintiff in the Bong hits for Jesus case claimed that the school district violated his right to free speech under the US and Alaska constitutions. The Ninth Circu[it] declined to address the state grounds, deciding on First Amendment grounds, which were reversed by the Supremes. Thus, his case should remain live, on the question of whether his speech was protected by the Alaska constitution.
§ 5. Freedom of Speech
Every person may freely speak, write, and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right.
§ 6. Assembly; Petition
The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government shall never be abridged.
update:
I just had some mail from the Mertz law firm in response to my inquiry on this point:
Douglas Mertz
to me
11:45 pm (33 minutes ago)
I'll be conferring with Joe Frederick on that
point next week. If we go ahead to seek a ruling
on the protections of the state constitution,
we'll naturally emphasize the greater protections
in the Alaska Constitution, but we'd also seek to
make even clearer the fact that Joe had a serious
intent -- protesting the lack of free speech in
his school and community -- and was not in any
way promoting or commenting on drugs. The
Supreme Court majority opinion hangs together
only by using the tactic of ignoring the evidence
in the record on those points. It is somewhat
premature to know what help we can use, however,
other than to keep the issue alive by urging
local and state governments and school boards to
advance policies that do more to protect rights
than the minimums under the Supreme Court decision.
Thanks for your note.
At 06:58 PM 6/28/2007, you wrote:
>Hi. I write an obscure blog.
>I'm writing to ask if you are planning to pursue the state
>constitutional claim in the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case, now that the
>federal question has been lost.
>If yes, is there anything people could/should do in support, amici,
>donations, publicity etc?
>Thanks in advance,
>Robbin Stewart.
I noticed today that the plaintiff in the Bong hits for Jesus case claimed that the school district violated his right to free speech under the US and Alaska constitutions. The Ninth Circu[it] declined to address the state grounds, deciding on First Amendment grounds, which were reversed by the Supremes. Thus, his case should remain live, on the question of whether his speech was protected by the Alaska constitution.
§ 5. Freedom of Speech
Every person may freely speak, write, and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right.
§ 6. Assembly; Petition
The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government shall never be abridged.
update:
I just had some mail from the Mertz law firm in response to my inquiry on this point:
Douglas Mertz
to me
11:45 pm (33 minutes ago)
I'll be conferring with Joe Frederick on that
point next week. If we go ahead to seek a ruling
on the protections of the state constitution,
we'll naturally emphasize the greater protections
in the Alaska Constitution, but we'd also seek to
make even clearer the fact that Joe had a serious
intent -- protesting the lack of free speech in
his school and community -- and was not in any
way promoting or commenting on drugs. The
Supreme Court majority opinion hangs together
only by using the tactic of ignoring the evidence
in the record on those points. It is somewhat
premature to know what help we can use, however,
other than to keep the issue alive by urging
local and state governments and school boards to
advance policies that do more to protect rights
than the minimums under the Supreme Court decision.
Thanks for your note.
At 06:58 PM 6/28/2007, you wrote:
>Hi. I write an obscure blog.
>I'm writing to ask if you are planning to pursue the state
>constitutional claim in the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case, now that the
>federal question has been lost.
>If yes, is there anything people could/should do in support, amici,
>donations, publicity etc?
>Thanks in advance,
>Robbin Stewart.
Comments:
Post a Comment
