The columbine is a perennial flower often seen growing wild in the Rocky Mountains. But since April 20, 1999, the word has been a universally recognized reference to what was then the worst mass shooting at a school in American history. Thirteen people were shot to death and 21 were wounded by a pair of Columbine High School students who then killed themselves. The massacre in Littleton, Colo., was a singularly shocking event.

The Supreme Court on Monday considered whether a line of clothing whose name sounds a lot like a four-letter vulgarity beginning with the letter F can be denied federal trademark registration because it’s “scandalous” or “immoral.” If the justices value the 1st Amendment they will rule — as they did in a related case two years ago — that government officials may not refuse to register a trademark simply because many people might find it offensive.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board has a long, consistent history of opposing overreach by presidents of both parties. When George W. Bush was in the Oval Office, we criticized his habit of appending “signing statements” to laws he signed that made clear there were parts of the laws he wouldn’t enforce. When Barack Obama succeeded Bush, we criticized Obama’s even more egregious habit of unilaterally rewriting portions of immigration law and two of the biggest bills passed this century by Congress — the No Child Left Behind education reform measure and the Affordable Care Act. In December 2016, when Obama issued far-reaching executive orders that sought to box in President-elect Donald Trump on major environmental issues, we warned that Obama’s overreach “could enable all kinds of unilateral actions by Trump.”