Posted on 01/11/2006 1:47:55 PM PST by Coleus
Ann Arbor, MI — A high school principal’s decision prohibiting a student from wearing his pro-life shirt in school has been overturned by a federal district court. Judge Elfvin of the Western District of New York signed a permanent injunction ordering Fillmore Central High School located in Fillmore, New York to allow the student to wear his pro-life shirt to school. The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, represented the student. Richard Thompson, Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, stated: “This student courageously took a stand for his views and our constitution. The ruling is clear--public schools don’t have the right to silence the pro-life speech of students.”
The student’s shirt is distributed by the American Life League’s Rock for Life group and displayed the following message: “Abortion is Homicide. You will not silence my message. You will not mock my God. You will stop killing my generation. Rock for Life.” Fillmore Principal Kyle Faulkner told the student that he could not wear his shirt in school. The student was sent home for the day when he respectfully replied that he had a right to wear the shirt. The student then contacted the Thomas More Law Center.
The Law Center attempted to amicably resolve the dispute by sending a letter to school officials explaining that students have a First Amendment right to peacefully express their views at school. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate. However, after school officials refused to acknowledge the student’s right to free speech, the Thomas More Law Center filed a lawsuit against his school for forcing him to remove his pro-life shirt and barring his free-speech rights.
The Thomas More Law Center was assisted by Chris Ferrara, of the American Catholic Lawyers Association, who acted as local counsel.
On September 6th, Judge Elfvin issued a preliminary injunction ruling that the student’s First Amendment rights had been violated, and ordered the school to allow him to wear his pro-life shirt to school until the lawsuit was resolved.
This past December, Judge Elfvin permanently ordered the school to allow the student to wear clothing in school that expresses his pro-life message. The judge also ordered the school district to pay the student nominal damages. The judge awarded a total of $24,600 in attorneys’ fees to the two law firms.
Julie Shotzbarger, Trial Counsel with the Thomas More Law Center, who handled the case, commented, “Students at Fillmore were allowed to wear all manner of shirts, including rock band shirts depicting bloody skulls, and shirts promoting sex, yet this public school singled out our client to silence his peaceful pro-life message.”
Well, there's a pleasant surprise!
When I was in high school, I had enough Skynyrd tee shirts so I could wear a different one every day of the week. You could say I was pretty heavily into Lynyrd Skynyrd. Most of those shirts had rebel flags, guns, and skulls on them. I would be so much more harassed than I already was if I had to go to school today. I doubt I'd have made it.
Tell me that liberals aren't in charge of our schools.
Slam dunk case.
Tzimisce here to remind everyone that the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights are for all of us: not just extreme left wing groups, not just communists and anarchists, not just Al Queda and other enemies of our state.
I wore my AC/DC, KISS, and Pantera (rebel flags, guns, and skulls just like your Skynyrd ones!) shirts all the time in high school, and that was from 98-02, so not too long ago. Nobody said anything. Nobody at my school cared. We had the coolest principal, but then again mine is not a very liberalized city.
Rightly so. Freedom of expression is freedom of expression. The kid has a perfect right to wear the shirt. The Wiccan kid can also wear a shirt that expresses that. That's the whole point of freedom of expression.
IMHO students shouldn't be allowed to wear bumper sticker type clothing that distracts others from learning. Save it for after school. - tom
Well said!
Just a thought, but you would probably have been less harrassed had you dressed like something other than a Skynyard deadhead.
Like maybe a normal human being.
***FREEBIRD! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! ;-)***
Hittin' the whiskey a bit early, are we? =P
I always feel like the whitest kid in the South when I'm in my wifebeater, cruisin' in my Camaro, top down, with Freebird at full blast.
A couple of years ago, I pulled up to a stoplight that way (but I had long hair at the time), and this mean-lookin' trucker pulled up next to me and gave me a nod of approval. LOL
***IMHO students shouldn't be allowed to wear bumper sticker type clothing that distracts others from learning. Save it for after school. - tom***
Dammit, where's Joe McCarthy when you need him?!?!?
=P
Two words: Dress Code.
You're welcome.
Well, I don't drink but I did go to a high school (in MA of all places) that pretty much worshipped Skynyrd so....
Last time I saw Joe was at a hearing where Sen. Stu Symington from Missouri was smacking him around. - Tom
The point of the court was that the school allowed other kids to wear clothing with "messages" on them. Therefore picking on this student for the particular content of his message was unconstitutional
Sounds like you've raised your daughter right. Congratulations.
I agree with the legal decision.
It would never have been a problem if the school didn't allow bumper sticker T shirts to be worn in school. It just causes chaos, and is not conducive to learning IMHO. - Tom
I think schools should be allowed to have dress codes. If they want to outlaw t-shirts or all political slogans, that's fine. But if one set of slogans are allowed, then others should be allowed, within reasonable limits such as no pornography.
Too many schools outlaw religion and conservatism but allow everything else. They shouldn't be allowed to pick and choose arbitrarily.
ping for later
There wouldn't have been any trouble if it was a pro-infantcide T-shirt!
This is good news, but I must say that all these conflicts could be avoided if students were made to wear uniforms.
One of the greatest things about the Thomas More Law Center is that its address is Ann Arbor, Michigan. AA is the home of the People's University of Michigan which is home to the racist BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) a primarily africanhyphenamerican organization dedicated to violently fighting the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative designed to end affirmative action in many public institutions. U of M has also thrown Coca Cola off campus because some prissy little girl and girly boy students have accused Coke of environmental misdeeds and the spineless wimps that run UM have gone along with them.
And not just for the ACLU and its sycophants.
When I went to high school, "normal" kids wore pink izods with the collars turned up. I don't regret the choices I made one bit. But if for you conformity in the face of adversity (appeasement, really) works, go for it. For me, being strong and being true to myself rates much higher, and I'm willing to take some crap for it.
Well, maybe things aren't as bad as I'm led to believe then.
Well that's true. Hell you can be a former KKK leader as long as you toe the line. But then, toeing the line has never been one of my strong suits.
I would go along with Justice Black's dissenting opinion. - tom
snipped to here-. There is also evidence that a teacher of mathematics had his lesson period practically "wrecked" chiefly by disputes with Mary Beth Tinker, who wore her armband for her "demonstration." Even a casual reading of the record shows that this armband did divert students' minds from their regular lessons. . . .
. . . It is a myth to say that any person has a constitutional right to say what he pleases, where he pleases, and when he pleases. . . .
. . . I wish, therefore, wholly to disclaim any purpose on my part to hold that the Federal Constitution compels the teachers, parents, and elected school officials to surrender control of the American public school system to public school students. . . .
I'm not quite sure how a pro-life message (or any other political message) distracts other students from learning. If they don't like it, they don't have to associate with the kid. In this case, I've gotta say good on the courts.
Jo, you know I love ya kiddo but I've gotta disagree here. Since conflict is a part of life, I don't see it as something that must be avoided in the schools at the cost of free speech.
Hi Coleus! I'm not a fan of forcing children to wear uniforms in public schools, only private/parochial schools if that is their choice. But in the public square, I don't really see the benefits of forced conformity. I'll have to break with my conservative friends here. It's hard enough for school-aged children to assert their independence as it is.
I do completely, agree, however, that pro-life and conservative messages are unfairly (and unconstitutionally) censored, based on their content alone. The courts did right this time.
The purpose of messages is to be read and influence the reader.
Children should be in school to learn basics like math geography history writing etc. They should not have distractions.
Do you think some people would be distracted by a student wearing a shirt with a photo of Hitler on it saying "He didn't kill enough of them."??
Or are we going to get into whether the message is politically correct or not. - tom
You do make a good point there. As a Jew, I would be sickened by that message. I would not want anything to do with the kid who wore it, except to throw him in the oven. But would it prevent me from learning to read or add? I would doubt it.
We do have serious problems in our schools today, as evidenced by the plethora of graduates who can't read their diplomas. But I would be extremely reluctant to attribute this to some idiot's offensive T-shirt. There are many things we could & should be doing to improve our schools, without crushing free speech. JMO.
What a courageous daughter you have!
How could you conclude that from my posts?
I don't want any messages on school clothing. Moral or immoral has nothing to do with it. - Tom
Thank you! And the Constitution shouldn't have to be left at the schoolhouse door. In a free society, the right to offend trumps the right not to be offended.
Because you qualified "bumper sticker type clothing" with "that distracts others from learning". Apparently you meant any messages at all. This is more fair but in my opinion part of learning is learning how to be mature. To be mature you must learn to be rooted in what you believe (which should be well thought out) and not ashamed of it. You should also learn to have civil discourse with others who disagree with you. It is in the this civil discourse that truth has the opportunity to win out. This is the idea behind free speech.
Hi there!
There are many advantages to uniforms. One is that they save money, time, and nonsense. Or, if folks don't want uniforms, a dress code would also work. Attending school should be treated as a job by students, learning is serious business. I think one reason parochial schools do so well educating children is because they foster an attitude of attention to learning.
There is always plenty of time for kids to dress as they please and express themselves.
I remember quite well having to tell C. she couldn't wear some Metallica (some band, anyway) t-shirt to school, since it basically had the devil's head on it! I wanted to throw the awful thing in the garbage, but her dad was selling them, so what could I do?
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