Balance Sheet.

• Author: Taylor, Jeff A.
• Position: Test cases involving civil rights and freedom issues - Brief Article

ASSETS

* Test Case. Pregnant women do not trade their rights for fertility, the Supreme Court rules. A South Carolina hospital had for years required drug tests of expectant mothers and forwarded any positive results to police for follow-up.

* Free Spite. A federal appeals court confirms that the First Amendment protects tacky and shrill anti-abortion Web sites that cheerlead the deaths of abortion-performing docs. The court, notes that no matter the bad taste, the written material cannot be construed as an imminent threat.

* Comp Time. Pennsylvania will transfer control of an entire school system to not one, but three private firms; parents can choose which will teach their kids. Real competition gives the 7,500-student Chester Upland school district a shot at improvement.

* Born Free. Killers may be made, but not by movies, a Louisiana judge rules. A civil suit sought to hold Oliver Stone and Time-Warner responsible for a store clerk's shooting by way of the movie Natural Born Killers.

* Party Party. Australia's smut merchants explore starting their own political party. The Eros Foundation notes the trend toward increased government control of adult entertainment, such as the new laws that decimated phone sex.

* Fox Hounds. Mexican President Vicente Fox says out loud that legalizing drugs would solve the violence and corruption problems his country faces. But he quickly adds that such a thing will only happen "some day" and that Mexico cannot possibly do it alone.

LIABILITIES

* Cookie Mobsters. Police in DeKalb County, Georgia, ticket Girl Scouts for selling Thin Mints without a permit. A local ordinance requires a permit for anyone soliciting in neighborhoods, with a fine of up to $200 for offenders. Police top brass later void the tickets.

* Doubleplus Ungood. New Jersey second-graders...