U.S. 9th Circuit Court rules high school can ban students from wearing American flag T-shirt

Fellowship of the Minds – by Dr. Eowyn

More than 4 years ago on May 5, 2010, Cinqo de Mayo, four students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California — a school with a predominant Mexican-American student body — were ordered by the vice principal Miguel Rodriguez to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out.

One of the boys, Daniel Galli, said they were told they could wear the flag T-shirt any other day “but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today” because their T-shirts were “incendiary” and could lead to fights on campus.  

The boys said their T-shirts were an expression of their American pride. When they refused to turn their T-shirts inside out, they were ordered to go to the principal’s office and threatened with suspension. So the boys went home to avoid suspension.

The boys and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official. The district released a statement that “The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration’s interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions.”

The boys were not suspended and were allowed to return to school, one of them wearing an American flag T-shirt. (Read more about this here.)

Fast forward four years.

Eric Owens reports for The Daily Caller that on Sept. 17, 2014, Constitution Day, the notoriously liberal U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order declining a request for an en banc (full court) hearing in a case involving the four Live Oak High School who were sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.

In so doing, the Ninth Circuit judges signaled their agreement with a lower district court and with a trio of appellate judges that officials at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif. could censor students who wanted to wear flag-emblazoned shirts.

“[N]o further petitions shall be permitted,” the court ordered.

In the three-judge ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that school officials have wide latitude to limit freedom of expression: “Our role is not to second-guess the decision to have a Cinco de Mayo celebration or the precautions put in place to avoid violence. Here, both the specific events of May 5, 2010, and the pattern of which those events were a part made it reasonable for school officials to proceed as though the threat of a potentially violent disturbance was real.”

Consequently, the court proclaimed, vice principal Rodriguez acted constitutionally when he told students to turn their American flag shirts inside-out or hit the road with an excused absence because he was trying to prevent potential violence.

An online version of the opinion, Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified School Dist., is available here.

The practice of limiting one group’s free speech rights because that speech might cause another group to react violently is known as a “heckler’s veto.” It is understood by free speech advocates to have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights.

liberty gagged

~Eowyn

http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2014/09/20/u-s-9th-circuit-court-rules-high-school-can-ban-students-from-wearing-american-flag-t-shirt/

7 thoughts on “U.S. 9th Circuit Court rules high school can ban students from wearing American flag T-shirt

  1. Miguel Rodriguez should have his sorry ass kicked south of the border. If he is so fond of Mexico, let him go live there! Anyone claiming to be an American that will not defend the flag of this country should go live in another country. What will the psychos in charge come up with next?!? Maybe they will rule that Christians shouldn’t pray in churches because it may offend Muslims that may be visiting the church or walking close enough to one to hear what is being said inside. I cannot believe the level of pure bullshit going on in this country. It’s way past time to not only restore the Republic, but also to restore some sanity to this land.

    1. “If he is so fond of Mexico, let him go live there!”

      He may be a communist, Sunfire, but he’s not stupid. They kidnap, and sometimes even kill politicians down there.

      Which really isn’t such a bad thing, when you think about it.

      1. Especially the kill part. After that method has been applied they are no longer a threat! The overpass wind chimes do seem to get their attention a bit more than fools on an overpass with a sign!

  2. ONCE AGAIN!

    President Teddy Roosevelt;

    “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.

    In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn’t doing his part as an American.

    There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile.

    We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, and American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

    So therefore, HANG every last one of these treasonous and illegal bastards!! 😡

  3. Golddarn Ruskies
    “In Russia live Russians. Any minority, from anywhere, if it wants to live in Russia, to work and eat in Russia, should speak Russian, and should respect the Russian laws. If they prefer Shari’ya Law, then we advise them to go to those places where that’s the state law. Russia does not need minorities. Minorities need Russia, and we will not grant them special privileges, or try to change our laws to fit their desires, no matter how loud they yell ‘discrimination’. We better learn from the suicides of America, England, Holland and France, if we are to survive as a nation. The Russian customs and traditions are not compatible with the lack of culture or the primitive ways of most minorities. When this honorable legislative body thinks of creating new laws, it should have in mind the national interest first, observing that the minorities are not Russians.” — Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, addressing the Duma February 4th, 2013. The politicians in the Duma gave Putin a standing ovation for 5+ minutes!

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