Ruling lets stand school's Confederate flag ban
We read:
"A federal appeals court panel has ruled in favor of a Tennessee high school that banned students from wearing clothing with the Confederate battle flag after several racial incidents. Students Derek Barr, Chris White and Roger Craig White claimed in a lawsuit that their free speech rights were violated by the 2005 ban on the Confederate symbol at William Blount High School in Maryville.
School officials said their ban came after racial tension that included a fight, a civil rights complaint and graffiti of a Confederate flag, a racial slur and a noose. In its opinion filed Wednesday in Cincinnati, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that school officials had a right to ban the flag because they could "reasonably forecast" that it would disrupt education.
Source
Free speech can be limited if it is "disruptive"? Surely it is precisely disruptive speech that needs to be protected
5 comments:
Instead of educating the students on why the confederacy shouldn't be equated with racism, they infringe on his free speech rights in the name of tolerance???
Would that same twisted logic apply to the American flag? How about the star of David, or the half-moon and star symbol of Islam, or the solid red flag of Marxism favored by protesting illegals? There are many who are strongly opposed to all of the above. Shouldn't they too be banned? It is this kind of decision, this type of "selective" denial of rights that get's governments overthrown! Maybe it's time.
1) Schools are populated primarily by minors.
2) The SCOTUS has ruled on the issue of student censorship very clearly. The state has a compelling interest in creating a "learning environment," and schools may ban disruptive displays within that environment so long as such regulations are evenly applied.
3) Since the school officials declared displays of the Confederate Battle Flag to be disruptive, the court was able to side with them.
4) If the students in question can point to inconsistent application of the rule (i.e. that some student wore a "black power" or other disruptive message and was not rebuked) then they have a case. They had no such "inconsistent application."
I'm not saying it's right - I'm saying that as applied to schools, this is settled constitutional law.
Stan B,
Thanks for the informed perspective. It's nice to see some people who post on this blog reseach the topic rather than just spouting rhetoric.
So now they cant display the confederate flag but i,ll bet the flags of various african nations are on full display
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