Earlier this month, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the right of public school students to criticize school policies. The First Amendment Center:

A three-judge panel agreed that school officials in Watson Chapel, Ark., violated the constitutional rights of three students in 2006 who were disciplined for wearing black armbands or wristbands to school to protest a new policy enforcing school uniforms, and for handing out a flier objecting to the policy.

The administrators agreed in court that the student protest did not disrupt classes or order at the school.

The 8th Circuit panel said that despite restrictive decisions since it was handed down, including the 2007 Supreme Court decision in the so-called "Bong Hits for Jesus" case, "Tinker remains good law." Students in both Tinker and the Watson Chapel case were exercising a right of protest against a government policy — something officials in every school ought to celebrate by example, not denigrate.

Since 9/11 the Bush administration has used the war on terror as an excuse to overstep constitutional boundaries, spy on citizens, and grab power. Their insistence on maintaining an all-important veil of secrecy has enabled them to trample on the bill of rights and has rendered the judicial and legislative branches lifeless. Fortunately, on Thursday Congress took one small but important step toward slowing Bush's rapid ascent to the throne. The New York Times reported that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has been granted some power to oversee the NSA's eavesdropping program.

The White House has agreed to allow limited judicial review of the eavesdropping program run by the National Security Agency, Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a White House spokeswoman said today.