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Toobin: Columbine memorial tiles do not violate Constitution
(CNN) -- In a new CNN segment called "I Object," CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and CNN anchor Paula Zahn discussed a case going before the U.S. Supreme Court. On Friday, justices will decide whether or not to accept hearing a case stemming from a memorial to students killed at Columbine High School in Colorado that raises free speech and church-state issues. (More on the case) PAULA ZAHN: How are you this morning? JEFFREY TOOBIN: I'm great. ZAHN: So this one's got your dander up? TOOBIN: It really does. ZAHN: Now, tell me why. Let's look at pictures of the memorials. TOOBIN: OK. ZAHN: So people can understand why this is even being talked about by the Supreme Court. TOOBIN: Very simple case. ZAHN: You see nice little kids here painting tiles. TOOBIN: Kids ... the high school at Columbine, very nice idea, decided to do a memorial to the students who were killed there and let the students speak. The students could do these little 4 inch-by-4 inch tiles to express their own feelings about the school, about what happened and the school said that's fine, everybody can do what they want with one exception. They said the kids could not make any reference on the tiles to God, Jesus, the church, anything like that. So those tiles were totally censored, not allowed to be put up. Some of the parents and the students have objected and gone to court. In the District Court, in the trial court, they won. The court said... ZAHN: On the basis of the court saying ... TOOBIN: It's saying these kids were censored. But the Court of Appeals in Denver said no, this was a violation of the separation between church and state to let these kids write God on the tiles. And the Supreme Court is going to meet Friday to decide whether to take the case and we should know the decision on Monday. ZAHN: Do you think the Supreme Court will end up hearing this case?
TOOBIN: You know, I do, actually, because I think this is an area where the Court is always trying to sort out the rules. And, admittedly, the rules are very complicated. You know, every year we have cases about whether a creche can be put up and there are always cases about whether prayer groups can meet in schools and whether there can be prayers at football games. But what's so outrageous to me about this case is that here you do not have the school endorsing religion, which is inappropriate... ZAHN: These are individual children. TOOBIN: It's not about separation of church and state, it's about freedom of speech. It's about letting kids say what they want. And what I think, it's just a perversion of such an important part of the Constitution, which is the separation of church and state, to censor these kids from saying anything they want about God. ZAHN: So it's OK for them to do these tiles at home and display them at home, you just can't display these in public? TOOBIN: Well, you can't -- look... ZAHN: Is that basically what they're being told? TOOBIN: You can't display them in a public building, which is a little like saying to the kids well, you know, you can speak in favor of Republicans but you can't speak in favor of Democrats. It's censoring kids based on content. And as far as I've always understood the Constitution, you can't do that. ZAHN: How riled up are some of these parents? TOOBIN: Well, I think the parents, the parents are furious because, I mean, think about it, the emotions that surrounded Columbine are pretty heightened to start with. ZAHN: Well, they're raw. TOOBIN: And, you know, religion is an important part of how people comfort themselves, how people deal with a tragedy like this. And it's perfectly understandable, perfectly predictable that kids would want to do this, at least some kids would want to in their tiles. And here, I mean what rational person walking into the school seeing hundreds of tiles, one of which made a reference to the lord, would think that the school... ZAHN: Oh, I am alienated. TOOBIN: Well, or also, would think that the school is somehow endorsing religion? It makes no sense at all. ZAHN: Well, I guess the final question is where do you stop with this? TOOBIN: Well... ZAHN: What does that mean? In the classroom you can't make any reference to God ever and you can't post it on a bulletin board in school? TOOBIN: See, that's why I think, you know, it takes such an important principle, which I think is a good principle, which is keeping religion, you know, out of the government's hands, and perverts it into telling people what they can and can't say, what they can't think, the views they can't express. So I'm counting on the Supreme Court to take the case on Monday and I've been wrong before. ZAHN: And we know exactly how you'd weigh in if you were sitting on the Supreme Court. TOOBIN: Yes. ZAHN: Jeffrey Toobin, thanks so much. TOOBIN: Good to see you.
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