Today's Hot Topics: "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," Khalid Sheik Mohammed

Supreme Court: Yesterday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, in which an Alaska student was suspended from school after unfurling a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner as the Olympic torch passed by his school. The LAT, while admitting that this week's case concerns "a less high minded expression of opinion" than the original Vietnam-era one that protected students' right to free speech, urges the Supreme Court to uphold its 1969 decision that "children do not 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate'" ... the NYT doesn't buy the Bush administration's defense for the school district that suspended the banner-waving student: While the administration argues "that schools have broad authority to limit talk about drugs because of the importance of keeping drugs away from young people," the editors argue that if the Court supports such logic, "school administrators would no doubt use their power to clamp down on conservative speech while others would clamp down on liberal speech."

Khalid Sheik Mohammed: In the WaPo, Anne Applebaum argues that the "mystery" surrounding Khalid Sheik Mohammed's confession -- whether he was tortured or not -- renders it "completely null, either in a court of law or in the court of international public opinion": "This is concrete proof, as if more were needed, that it is not merely immoral to operate outside the rule of law; it is also ineffective and in fact profoundly counterproductive" ... the NYT criticizes the Bush administration for classifying a court document submitted by Khalid Sheik Mohammed detailing abuse he suffered as a prisoner of the United States, and urges Congress to investigate whether the allegations are true.

By Rob Anderson |  March 20, 2007; 6:23 AM ET
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