First Amendment RIP

Last week’s post: The First Amendment Weeps discussed a Texas law that criminalizes freedom of speech, e.g., the wearing of a pro-gun rights T-shirt within 100 feet of a polling place solely because the statist authorities in that state believe it’s perfectly OK to stifle First Amendment rights whenever the mood strikes them.

Never-mind that the First Amendment language is unequivocal – the government… “shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech” – they just carve exceptions out of thin air anyway whenever they like. They don’t accept the reality that “no law” means, and was intended to mean, exactly that -- no law -- period.

They do it because the courts let them do it. The courts sanction it. It’s the courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, that justify then ratify into law one flimsy legal excuse after another in their ultimate quest to render the First Amendment a nullity in situations where freedom of speech causes inconvenience to the Authority!

That’s why to libertarians like me the First Amendment weeps.

As this phenomenon continues, the First Amendment, right along with the rest of the Bill of Rights; all of our precious constitutional rights, will be essentially neutered or perhaps even expired, so I sadly say now – First Amendment RIP.

The latest outrage was perpetrated last week by the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals when they affirmed the right of California public high school authorities to ban the wearing of shirts bearing the American flag symbol on Cinco de Mayo, (May 5)

That’s right. Students will be allowed to freely exercise their First Amendment rights to wear American flag shirts on every day of the school calendar year except Cinco de Mayo day. On that day the public school authorities may violate First Amendment rights says the court. In fact the court went so far as to say that banning free speech on that day does not violate First Amendment rights.

All students will be permitted to wear Mexican flag shirts on any day they like, including Cinco de Mayo, but American flag shirts will not be permitted. That clear and unambiguous violation of the First Amendment free speech clause is just fine with the federal Court of Appeals.

Why?

Well, because the authorities have come to believe that violating constitutional rights in some situations, situations of their choosing, is reasonable. If it’s deemed reasonable then “no law” apparently means “except for this law” because it’s reasonable.

So we see that the authorities -- the government – can simply ignore every provision of the Bill of Rights at any time so long as they can convince a court of law that doing so is “reasonable.”

In this particular case the court concluded that the wearing of American Flag shirts by some students on Cinco de Mayo day might likely cause racial tensions among the students. It might make some of them angry and want to fight. It might adversely affect school safety.

So instead of punishing the fighters, those bad apples who threaten unruly behavior which might impede safety, they’re authorized by the court to stifle the First Amendment and freedom of speech. "The controversy and tension remained," ruled the justices as to the school administrator’s conduct in 2010, "but the school's actions presciently avoided an altercation… their response was tailored to the circumstance,"

The government may stifle the Bill of Rights, ruled the court, if only they tailor the violation to the circumstances.

Any circumstance will do so long as the court deems it reasonable.

First Amendment, RIP.