California Supreme Court Upholds Student's First Amendment Rights

Conviction of “George T” for Writing Dark Poems Overturned
For Immediate Release: July 22, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO—In a resounding victory for students’ First Amendment rights of creative expression, the California Supreme Court today unanimously overturned the conviction of a 15-year old Santa Clara County student who was imprisoned for writing a disturbing poem. The student, “George T,” had been convicted of violating the state’s criminal threat statute after writing and sharing a poem that explored “dark themes.”

Drawing on an amicus brief submitted by the ACLU of Northern California, the First Amendment Project and The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, the court held that the poem “Faces” was too ambiguous and equivocal to constitute a criminal threat. The brief, submitted on behalf of Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee, Pulitizer Prize winner Michael Chabon, and a raft of other distinguished writers and poets, emphasized the literary importance of “dark” or “confessional” poetry and argued that George’s poem fit within that genre. The high Court agreed.

“The Court’s decision makes clear that students’ creative works deserve the same high level of First Amendment protection as that accorded to established poets, authors, and artists,” said Ann Brick, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Northern California and one of the co-authors of the brief. “This case provides much-needed guidance to both school officials and law enforcement in responding in a sensible and measured way when confronted with student work that raises questions about safety. As the Court so rightly noted, school safety and protecting freedom of expression need not be ‘antagonistic goals,’” she added.

“We hope that law enforcement will show as great an appreciation for the subtlety, complexity and legitimacy of artistic expression as was shown today by the California Supreme Court,” said Attorney David Greene of the First Amendment Project.