Wednesday, August 08, 2012
Judge recommends Confederate flag case go forward
A fired Oregon school bus driver suing to get his job back after being dismissed for flying a Confederate flag from his personal vehicle should have his case heard in court, a federal magistrate said Thursday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke ruled against a motion to dismiss the First Amendment case and said the suit should go to trial, according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Medford.
School bus company First Student Inc. and Jackson County School District 4 had argued the case should be dismissed because driver Ken Webber flew the flag as an expression of what he called his "redneck lifestyle," not protected political speech.
Clarke wrote there is enough evidence to allow a jury to find that Webber flew the flag to express his feelings for history and heritage, which other courts have included in freedom of speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.
The magistrate's recommendation goes to a judge for final action. No trial date has been set.
Webber's attorney Thomas Boardman called it "a thrilling victory for the First Amendment."
Webber, the married father of four, was fired in March 2011, after repeatedly refusing to remove a 3-foot by 5-foot Confederate flag emblazoned with the word "redneck" from the CB antenna on his pickup truck. The flag was a gift from his father.
School Superintendent Ben Bergreen had seen the flag on Webber's truck parked at the bus yard, which is on property owned by the school district, and told the bus company he wanted it removed because it violated the district's anti-harassment policy. After being suspended twice, Webber continued to refuse to remove the flag or park his truck off school property and was fired.
Clarke wrote that there are several disputed questions of fact that should be answered by a jury, not a judge. Among them is whether the flag amounted to protected speech.
Clarke noted that other courts have found the First Amendment protects the flying of the Confederate flag as a symbol of state's rights, white supremacy, history and heritage.
Source
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
I hope he wins his case i hope he makes the school board eat crow
Who exactly is he supposed to be harrassing?
@12:53 Yeah, and I guess you'd be an asshole too if you got fired for your Greenday bumper sticker.
Flying that flag is a political statement as well as whatever else he wishes it to mean. It is therefor "protected speech", even on school property. Yes, that may come as a shock to the comrades who run the local indoctrination camps, but, too bad.
But, this is the Peoples Republic of Oregon, home to most of the country's leftists, communists, anarchists, atheists, and assorted cretins. Had he displayed a flag of Che, or the Hammer and Cycle, he would have been promoted.
What do you expect from the land of PC craziness aka USA (and yet another mass-shooting by a gun-crazy Yank, this time even an exGI, and even in a religious center (non-muslim)!)
321 He was a Neo Nazi. He thought they were muslims, likely. Or I suppose it didn't really matter to a New National Socialist. Socialists are all about equal discrimination.
9:29 - I like that. Good one.
It is the left that always wants to silence people
3:21, you EuroPEONS started both ww1 and ww2 causing the deaths of millions, I really don't think your opinion matters much.
Anyone who is either from the South or has lived in the South knows that the Confederate flag is a deeply emotional symbol of historical and ancestral significance. While the black community and the Left have commandeered it as a racist symbol, the fact remains that there are many proud people and families whose relatives fought on the side of the Confederacy. To deny them their honoring of their heritage is a travesty.
3:06 PM Why is 3:21 "obviously a Brit"? or even in Europe? You presume too much - in all respects!
3:30 PM (If you are not 3:06 PM as well) - your opinion certainly doesn't matter if you are so ignorant of history. Do you think the US was so isolated from Europe that it had no causal factor in either WWI or WWII, or not realize how much the US benefited in the end!
If speech isn't offensive, it doesn't need protection.
Post a Comment