Pubdate: Mon, 24 Oct 2005
Source: Times Argus (Barre, VT)
Copyright: 2005 Times Argus
Contact:  http://www.timesargus.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/893
Author: John Zicconi, Vermont Press Bureau

ACLU APPEALS TWO VERMONT CIVIL RIGHTS CASES

MONTPELIER - The Vermont Chapter of the American Civil Liberties 
Union will go to federal appeals court this week, trying to reverse a 
lower-court ruling allowing officials at a Vermont school ban images 
of drugs or alcohol on student clothing.

The ACLU will also ask the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New 
York to overturn another lower-court ruling allowing the federal 
government to conduct random screening of automobiles and luggage on 
ferries that cross Lake Champlain.

The ACLU claims the ferry searches violate passenger rights under the 
U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment protecting against unreasonable 
search and seizures, while the Williamstown Middletown School's dress 
code violates a student's First Amendment right to free speech - a 
political statement that used drug and alcohol images.

"Students don't shed their rights when they enter the schoolhouse 
gate," said Allen Gilbert, executive director of the Vermont ACLU.

U.S. District Judge William Sessions last year ruled that Zachary 
Guiles' rights were not violated when Williamstown Principal Kathleen 
Morris-Kortz ordered him to cover up images on a T-shirt that were 
critical of President Bush.

The shirt referred to Bush as a lying drunk driver who abused cocaine 
and marijuana, and called the president a "chicken-hawk-in-chief" who 
was engaged in a "world domination tour." The garment was covered 
with a variety of images, including cocaine and a martini glass.

The seventh-grader obtained the shirt at an anti-war rally. He was 
suspended for one day when he refused to cover up the shirt's drug 
and alcohol images, but was later allowed to wear the shirt if he 
covered up the drug and alcohol images with tape.

Session's ruled that the school could censor the images because they 
violated a school policy preventing the display of drug and alcohol 
images. The judge, however, ordered Guiles' disciplinary record 
expunged because initially he was also told to cover textual 
references to cocaine.

The judge ruled that words were different than images and could not 
be censored if they were used to convey a political message.

School officials are only interested in preventing messages that 
promote drug and alcohol use, and were happy with the compromise, 
said Tony Lamb, the school's attorney. But Guiles and the ACLU 
claimed the student's rights were violated, and appealed Sessions' ruling.

"We think the distinction between words and images when dealing with 
core political speech is a false one," Gilbert said.

"The judge said you can censor all drug and alcohol images if you 
have a policy that says so," Gilbert said. "That is an unworkable 
policy that denies students a chance to engage in further, meaningful 
discussion about the political messages they are trying to convey."

The appeals court will hear the case Friday.

The Vermont ACLU is also unhappy that the Maritime Transportation 
Security Act of 2002 granted the U.S. Coast Guard the authority to 
randomly screen passengers riding ferries across Lake Champlain.

The law allows the Coast Guard to do random searches of car trunks, 
luggage and backpacks. The ACLU in 2004 filed suit on behalf of 
Colchester resident Michael Cassidy who uses a ferry to commute to 
his job in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

The government says the screenings, which it says are no less 
intrusive than the procedures undergone by airline passengers every 
day, are useful tools to thwart possible terrorist attacks.

The ACLU, however, claims there is not enough evidence that Lake 
Champlain ferries are an actual target to justify the searches.

"We are not saying all searches of maritime vessels are prohibited," 
Gilbert said. "We are just saying these on Lake Champlain cannot be 
justified.   The government must have a good reason for infringing on 
your constitutional rights."

U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha earlier this year ruled the 
federal government has the right to conduct searches on ferries 
without proof of specific threats.

The ACLU says the law should force the government to spend its 
limited anti-terror dollars more wisely and should show there are 
"special circumstances" before conducting searches without a warrant.

"We have to force the government to make better security decisions," 
Gilbert said. "There are many forms of public transportation. Why do 
we search ferries in the middle of nowhere crossing Lake Champlain 
when we don't search a bus that is going right by a federal building 
in downtown Burlington?"

Carol Shea, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Burlington, 
declined to comment about the case, which will be argued at the 
federal appeals court Thursday.
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