Conservative Student News

Photo credit: www.nedgallagher.com

Everybody knows that July 4 is Independence Day in this nation. It is the day on which our founding fathers adopted the Declaration of Independence that declared our independence from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence is one of the most well-known documents in American history.

More recently, in 2004, another federal holiday was adopted to honor and celebrate another important American document, the Constitution of the United States. September 17 is annually celebrated as Constitution Day in the United States. This semester, I had an opportunity to learn about Constitution Day at St. Thomas’ School of Law. The goal was to better inform students what Constitution Day is and how it can affect our lives today.

Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia added an amendment to the Omnibus Spending Bill of 2004. Constitution Day was originally called “Citizenship Day,” but now it is renamed Constitution Day or Constitution and Citizenship Day. The amendment made it so that all publicly-funded educational institutions must hold some sort of seminar, explaining the significance of this day. It is a time where citizens can learn about the history of the Constitution and the effects it has on us today.

Thus, as you may have already assumed—even St. Thomas receives some sort of federal funds and must offer some sort of optional forum called Constitution Day. In this forum two St. Thomas law professors, Robert Delahunty and Michael Paulsen, gave quite informative presentations—both in regard to the Supreme Court today and several important cases decided last term.

You may say that the cases considered mean nothing to you, yet reflect on these cases I learned about. In Morse v. Frederick the central issue revolved around students and free speech. Meanwhile, in Parents Involved v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 the central issue was about race based student assignments in public schools. While these issues may not affect you, they could affect your future children. Gonzales v. Carhart was concerned about the federal partial-birth abortion and Stare Decisis law.

If we take the time to understand the decisions we can imagine how our lives may be affected in the future. The cases fuel wonderful intellectual debates and you may come away learning something about yourself as I did on this Constitution Day.

In the case of Morse v. Frederick a student who attended a high school in Alaska unveiled a banner with the message “Bong Hits 4 Jesus,” in front of national TV cameras as the Olympic torch was being brought through the capital city of Juneau. The principal of the school demanded that the defendant, Frederick, remove the banner but he refused. He was later suspended from school. Frederick argued that not only was he on public property but that his message was not promoting any sort of drug use as was the accusation brought forth during prosecution. Frederick argued that his rights to freedom of speech under the first amendment were being violated.

His lawyers also pointed out the danger of the “slippery slope” the nation may face if the Supreme Court allows school officials to extend their authority to publicly held property. The well-known lawyer, Kenneth Starr, argued for Morse saying that the schools have the right to censor or prohibit the promotion of illegal substances. Since the defense could not adequately explain what “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” stood for other than the suggested drug reference, the schools cannot stop it. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Morse and the school district.

Many other famous cases, involving students and freedom of speech, have come before the Supreme Court, yet perhaps the most famous was the Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District, where some students wore black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. Cases like these can impact students like us because we believe that we can say almost anything we want and have protection under the Constitution to do so, but in some cases we do not.

Discrimination and diversity were hot topics last year on campus at St. Thomas and while thankfully no Supreme Court case came out of it, such issues did arise in the case of school districts in Seattle and Kentucky.

Both districts had disputes with their local communities about race-based assignments Seattle high schools and in Kentucky elementary schools. The case, Parents Involved v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 brought these issues to light in the Supreme Court. In Seattle, the dispute was due to the categories the schools used to achieve “racial diversity.” The district used “white” and “non-white” as their categorical factors. In Kentucky, the elementary schools used “black” and “non-black” as their categories.

Many parents were upset when they were not able to take their children to the schools of their choice but instead had to, in some cases, drive their children to other schools miles away. Is racial diversity a compelling interest in our public schools or is it a violation of the equal protection rights of students to be denied entrance to a public school because of their race?

“The Court found that the school districts had not carried their heavy burden of showing that the interest they seek to achieve justifies the extreme means they have chosen,” reported Jennifer Koons with the Medill News Service. Chief Justice John Roberts later on in his opinion stressed the fact that if we want to eliminate discrimination we shouldn’t practice it in our schools.

The third and final case I learned about was the case of Gonzales v. Carhart. This case had to deal with the partial-birth abortion bill, which at the time was not yet signed by President Bush. Four doctors from four different states brought suit against the bill and Alberto Gonzales because they felt the ban was “overly broad and places an undue burden on receiving an abortion, thus rendering the Act unconstitutional,” reported Peter Sachs of Medill News Service.

The Partial-Birth Abortion Act bans two types of late term abortions called IDX (intact dilation and extraction) and D&E (dilation and evacuation). Abortion is a touchy issue already and the recent decision by the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote has not put to rest the issue of abortion.

Justice Kennedy states that opponents of the law “have not demonstrated that [it] would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases”. He goes on to reject arguments that the act should be dismissed because it imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to abortion, it is too vague or too broad and fails to provide an exception for abortions to protect the health of a pregnant woman,” stated Sachs.

As you can see, I was able to gain a great deal from Constitution Day and I hope you learned a little bit as well. You can see that all of the arguments presented in the cases above dealt with some part of the Constitution. The Constitution is not just some old piece of paper; it has a profound impact on laws and the way we live in our country. Whether it is—free speech; the schools we choose; or our definitions of life—the Constitution is still a vital part of our society. When we understand a little bit about the Constitution and thus about Constitution Day, we will be better off as a country and as informed critical-thinking citizens.