I love stories like this XLI

You really have to wonder whether the public school administrators that, well, adminster and execute "zero tolerance" policies around the country ever have second thoughts; whether they ever consider stepping back and taking a larger perspective view of what they're about to do as prescribed by school policy.

Honor student, Michael Boone, has been suspended for a full year for trying to keep his sister out of trouble:

When his sister, Heavenly, realized she'd inadvertently brought a 2-inch pocketknife to school last week, they both knew she'd never get through the metal detector at Newburgh Free Academy. So Michael says he tried to help his sister out by stashing it under some bushes outside.

But a security guard spotted the 10th-grader ditching the knife. Next thing Michael knew, he was suspended for five days.

At a hearing earlier this week, it got worse: His suspension was continued for a full calendar year.

This paragraph of the story is interesting (emphasis mine):

The Newburgh School District issued a statement yesterday that, while not addressing Boone's case specifically, cited state and federal laws that require the district to suspend any student who brings a weapon to school. The district has a zero-tolerance policy on weapons.

James Taranto at OpinionJournal.com had an interesting speculation about this:

The bit about federal laws requiring the suspension is especially amusing. We don't know if such a law actually exists or not, but wouldn't it be satisfying if the Boone kids sued and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, and Justice Sam Alito cast the deciding vote striking down this blatant act of congressional overreach?