Monday, March 02, 2009

Government Speech?

Supreme Court Denies Monument in a Park

The court ruled on Wednesday that permanent monuments in public parks are not subject to the free speech analysis that applies to speeches and leaflets in public forums Story.NY Times

It is interesting that the Justices' have invoked category called "government speech" which apparently takes precedence over a citizen's private speech. The case should have gone as an Establishment case in which both monuments would be barred under Separation of Church and State. This will be the ultimate test

5 comments:

  1. . A second rate decision from a second rate Supreme Court lineup.
    "Governmental" bodies don't have a right to free speech. It's not in the constitution. It's a decision that was made to pander to a political and religious group. The last gasp of loser Republicanism.
    I would hate to see religous warfare start up in the U.S. And I have some fairly sharp memories of low life, religiously fundamentalist public school teachers trying to teach my kid their nonsense in class.

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  2. It's called an 'opinion' because that's what it is.

    They didnt rule on this as a freedom of religion case or a separation of church and state because they would have had to uphold the lower courts' ruling.

    I find myself thinking that these men and women find their conclusions from there gut feeling on what they want America to be and then work backwards to find an argument that fits.

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  3. A government is limited only in regulating "private" speech. Regarding its own speech--government speech--it may say what it wishes.

    Either that, or maybe the judiciary from the local courts way up to the Supremes should just ignore their lifelong dedication to the study and interpretation of law and simply recognize the font of all constitutional understanding exists only in amateur blogs. Really.

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  5. Regarding the statement above:

    This reminds me of former N.Y. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's quote,

    "Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."

    It has not been our experience that local county judges hold a "lifelong dedication to the study and interpretation of law "

    It IS the so called "amateur" that effects true change

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