Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

I tend to agree that this is the best of the series since Prisoner of Azkhaban, though I also tend to disagree that Order of the Phoenix was all that bad. At any rate, I predict that I won't like the seventh as well. The ending seems to set up a pattern of irritatingly silly behavior on Harry's part that seems likely to mar the rest of the story. I'd much rather have tension in a book come from the villain's skill than the hero's stupidity.

I'm not sure I have all that much to say about this opinion: it seems to be a relatively straightforward application of Tinker principles. Of course, that Alito applies Tinker in such a manner is an encouraging sign from a free speech standpoint, though I would hesitate to reach a judgment based on one case. The one problem I had with the opinion was that I see a link between a "hostile environment" and "substantial educational disruption" (i.e., speech which may be prohibited under Tinker) to be relatively clear, whereas Alito does not seem to think so. That said, the policy clearly draws in speech under the hostile environment prong which would be protected under Tinker, so our disagreement there is ultimately immaterial to the result.

Two questions did come to mind, however: (1) to what extent would the school district have been on firmer ground if they had narrowed their policy to "fighting words" or epithets or the like, and analogized the policy to Fraser; (2) what would have happened had the district eliminated the "purpose" element of the hostile environment prong, and made the link between a "hostile environment" and substantial educational disruption more clear or explicit? (That is, if one eliminates the purpose element, would it be likely that the hostile environment element would pass muster with Alito under Tinker? Should it do so?). Will? Any thoughts?