There were two opinions out of the Supreme Court today on free speech. In the first one, Federal Election Commission v. Wisconson Right to Life, the Court held that McCain-Feingold, as applied to issue advocacy (these are those ads that don't support a particular candidate but support a particular position on an issue that is candidate neutral and may apply to multiple candidates across party lines) is unconstitutional.
Next, in Morse v. Frederick, I'm a little troubled by the Court's opinion here. They held that a school principle could restrict a student's speech at a semi-official school event. Despite Justice Thomas' historical contextual concuring opinion, I'm not sure they got the First Amendment right here. Even the dissents got it wrong as well. Justice Breyer tries to weasel out of the case by claiming the student couldn't get damages from the school district which would preclude the First Amendment argument all together. Justice Stevens' dissent agrees with the proposition that the students' banner should have been removed, but goes on to make a rare lucid statement that the school district shouldn't punish the students for their speech, although the rest of the argument falls short.
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