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A federal court ruled that a California high school acted reasonably when they requested a group of students to removeAmerican flag shirts to avoid igniting ethnic tensions. An attorney
representing the students is planning to appeal the ruling.
In 2010, students sued the school
claiming that the request to stop wearing the t-shirts violated constitutional
rights. The court pointed out that the rights of students in public high
schools are limited. Students speech can be restricted if school authorities
can foresee a disruption or interference with school activities.
“If the school feared a disturbance,
it should have canceled the Cinco de Mayo celebration, not deprived students of
their 1st Amendment rights to patriotic expression,” said William
Becker Jr., the lawyer representing the students. Becker has stated that he
will ask a larger panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit of Appeals to
overturn the ruling. FreedomX, a nonprofit that advocated free speech for
conservative and Christian clients, offered the services of Becker to the
students.
A three-judge panel of 9th
Circuit ruled that administrators at Live Oak School had reason to fear the
clothing with American flags might spark a violent disturbance that would be
race-related. The administrator told the students he was concerned for their
safety.
In the year prior, a group of
students charring a Mexican flag provoked a group of students who
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Two students were allowed to go to
class in tamer clothing, while two refuse to change and were sent home. The
same students later received threatening text messages.
“The school’s actions presciently avoided
an altercation,” said Judge M. Margaret McKeown in a statement for the court. “Live Oak had a history
of violence among students, some gang-related and some drawn along racial
lines.”
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