Court Sides With Student In Bush T-Shirt Flap

http://cbs13.com/national/topstories_story_242230520.html

(AP) NEW YORK Vermont schoolboy was within his rights to wear a T-shirt depicting George W. Bush as a chicken and accusing him of being a former alcohol and cocaine abuser, an appeals court ruled.

Zachary Guiles' school violated the First Amendment when it ordered him to cover parts of the shirt, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Wednesday.

Guiles was a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Williamstown Middle High School in Williamstown, Vt., in May 2004 when he wore the shirt, which he had bought at an anti-war rally, to classes once a week for two months. Complaints from a fellow student and her mother who had different political views caused school officials to take a closer look.

Although teachers had told the complaining student that the shirt was political speech and protected by the Constitution, the mother complained to a student support specialist, who decided images of drugs and alcohol violated the school's dress code, the appeals court said.

They sure got that right. I think images of just about anything he does is offensive.

Actually I think the complainer from the "party of holier than thou" hates the thought of * being an asshole and having it pointed out to her. She bows down to pray at the altar of ass, idolatry at its worst.

He's a walking poster boy for drugs and alcohol. His face is a violation of decency and decorum.

snip>
The appeals court said the school had no right to censor any part of the shirt.

"The pictures are an important part of the political message Guiles wished to convey, accentuating the anti-drug (and anti-Bush) message," the appeals court wrote. "By covering them defendants diluted Guiles's message, blunting its force and impact."

...Guiles is a straight-A student and a talented trombonist with the Vermont Youth Orchestra, which has performed at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan.

The White House had no comment on the ruling or the depiction on Guiles' shirt.

him's too smart to unnerstand the Presnedent. You needs fayth, not that durn book larnen and musical stuffs.

of a fellow student and a parent who were offended by the message held no water. that bitch of a parent was trying to censor the kid because of his political views. I hope everyone realizes how important this is.

Thankfully this young man, who cannot even legally vote on any issues affecting the future of his generation, has the courage and brains to stand up for the truth. So unlike the many cowards in the MSM and our democratic
"representatives" who sit on their asses waiting for something better to magically happen while their very hypocrisy and inaction contributes to the formation of a corporate theocracy. Yes, even the issue of a t-shirt can be significant, especially considering the current fundie backlash and continuing erosion of our uniquely American freedoms we all speak of on these boards. It is another battle won in a war we hoped wouldn't have to be waged. Well done, Mr. Guiles, and a salute to the courts who actually upheld our endangered Constitution. :patriot:

In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969), the Supreme Court held that students had First Amendment rights. Specifically, the school couldn't constitutionally prohibit students from wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.

Tinker is pretty basic to understanding the extent of the powers of school officials over the students. The striking thing about the Vermont story is that the school officials were apparently so ignorant of this point.

School dress codes routinely fall anytime anyone has the nerve
and wherewithal to challenge them.

This is especially true when the school's dress code is trying
to censor speech that is political, religious, or critical of
the school.

Trust me on this: nearly all dress codes that try to cver those
areas would fall to a legal challenge.

Tesha

I think you are mistaken on this. I believe dress codes have been upheld as long as they are uniform. If they say no T-shirts then it doesn't matter what is written on it they can not be worn.. When they say no gang colors or emblems the courts have upheld the school.

I think you'll find that the question of gang colors in public schools
hasn't really been litigated yet.

(And note that private schools have more latitude; you agreed to be
member there so you may have agreed to abide by certain restrictions.)

But when it comes to the several forms of speech I outlined (political,
religious, and maybe criticism of the school), there's no doubt that
justice is on the side ofthe kids' free-speech rights.

Tesha

Is that anything like the SS? Are these the "fat shits" George is always talking about?

:rofl:

Good one!

Good call, deminks!

get involved with a t-shirt is beyond me to comprehend.

What a cowardly bitch that tried to censor this kid because she disagreed with the content of the message. This is the freedom that these yokels want to bring to Iraq? Gee, how come they're having so many problems?

I want to buy one...

www.bartcop.com

It has the word 'drugs' right there on the front. Ooh... that must be bad.

what they would say. But i say IT'S FUNNY!

Though i gotta ask, is that someone in particular shooting outta his ass?

"The front of the shirt had Bush's name and the words "Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief" beneath it. Below the words was a large picture of the president's head, wearing a helmet, superimposed on the body of a chicken.

To one side of the president on the T-shirt, three lines of cocaine, a razor blade and a straw appear. Elsewhere on the shirt, the president is shown holding a martini glass with an olive in it.

After the school official ordered Guiles to turn the shirt inside out, tape over the shirt's images of drugs and alcohol or change shirts, he returned to school another day with duct tape covering the offending images and "Censored" scrawled on the tape."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1692922/posts

Apparently they think the kid's peers should kick the shit out of him and that such an assault should be protected by the justice system.

And no, I guess I'm not at all surprised by that mind-set

It's the 'Stict Father' old testament mindset that also encourages child abuse and spouse abuse. I keep hoping western civilization will outgrow this model, and I keep being disappointed.

"beat thy neighbor".... one of Christ's better known teachings.

John 2:15
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;

that school is not the place for political expression as well as religious expression. There are way to many distractions in school now. Kids are allowed to listen to CD players, drink pop, have cell phones and dress inappropriately sexy. We are having a hard enough time teaching our children w/o these distractions. If this stands, kids tee shirts will become poster boards for political expression. Can a student wear nazi pictures? Schools need dress codes. They don't have to be victorian but reasonable.

Ok flame away.

Peace

the broken environment should not be allowed to voice their opinions and wishes until they are 18? And do you really think they would stop students from wearing any of the following messages on clothing (not that they should btw):
- Property of Jesus
- Bush Cheney 2004
- Hillary 2006
- FUBU (for us by us)
?

expression of opinions. I encourage it. Butttttt not during school. I don't like uniforms but think students should dress appropriate for learning. Out of school they can do whatever they like with their dress.

My CD player was the ONLY thing that kept me sane during high school...but only during lunch and study hall, of course. I seriously cannot imagine what school would have been like without it.

ought to help keep kids from abusing drugs and alcohol.