Posted on 06/05/2005 8:08:19 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A federal judge has ruled a high school dress code that banned items bearing the "Rebel flag" is overly broad and violates students' rights to free speech.
But U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. warned students if they use the Confederate battle flag as a symbol to violate the rights of others, "the very ban struck down today might be entirely appropriate."
Copenhaver's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Hurricane (W.Va.) High School senior Franklin Bragg, who was ordered to serve two in-house detentions last November for wearing the T-shirt with the flag's image.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia after attempts to resolve the issue with school officials failed.
Some view the flag as a symbol of hate and racism. Others see it as honoring Southern history. Bragg has said he wore the T-shirt to show his Southern heritage.
Bragg sued Principal Joyce Swanson and the Putnam County Board of Education, arguing he had worn similar T-shirts and a Confederate flag belt buckle before Swanson became principal last fall.
Bragg also argued other clothing with political and advertising slogans was permitted.
Swanson modified the 1,000-student school's dress code to prohibit clothing that featured "profanity, vulgarity, sexual innuendo, and racist language and/or symbols or graphics ... This includes items displaying the Rebel flag, which has been used as a symbol of racism at high schools in Putnam County."
Putnam County, which is between Huntington and Charleston, is 98 percent white, according to the 2000 census. About 0.6 percent of the county's 51,589 residents are black.
In his ruling, issued Tuesday, Copenhaver wrote that courts have moved to ban such images in schools where racial tensions exist. Testimony at a hearing last month did not show such a climate existed at the Putnam County school.
"To suggest a ban is warranted simply because some associate it with racism proves too much for First Amendment purposes," Copenhaver wrote.
The dress code is unconstitutional because it issues an outright ban on "items" displaying the flag, he wrote.
Although the policy may have been written with the best intentions, "the offending portion unjustifiably silenced a significant amount of permissible speech in contravention of the First Amendment," he wrote.
Swanson said she had not seen the ruling and declined to comment.
Copenhaver's ruling dismissed the board of education from the case.
Or the fruits in dresses... they would just love a "dress code"...
LOL, looks like you signed up about 10 days ahead of me!
Living in a Texas town of 60 thousand I thankfully haven't had to view the 'rainbow fruit flag' except on TV. Hope it stays that way!
Savage is really taking off across the country I see.
I talked about him a few years ago, but nobody ever heard of him. They sure are now...
I was inspired to make that "bumper sticker" after listening to Savage rant about this very issue. Said he was gonna go get a leather jacket with the rebel flag across the back and tell anyone who was offended to go screw themselves.
I live in Oregon. I was in California up until this year.
I had just enough time to vote in the Recall of Gov. Gay Davis and see GWB re-elected...
Bumpersticker ideas...
Silly faggot, marriage is for kids
Moderate Arab = out of bullets
Sodomy is not a family value
Get a SAVAGE NATION bumpersticker...
Paul Revere Society... google search... Michael Savage...
LOL, cute ideas but my husband doesn't allow bumper stickers of any kind. My G.W.Bush one is in a drawer!!
Thanks for the ping!
Excellent news, finally!
I couldn't resist.
I can just visualize him clattering away at his keyboard in a fit of apopleptic rage over this story.
What about it? Someone wants to wear that on his/her t-shirt, I don't care. Homosexuals don't bother me until they start screaming and flaming, expecting me to "undertand and respect" their sexual preference.
I don't and won't. That doesn't mena I'm a "homophobe," however; there's a big difference between fear and disgust.
As a musician, I audition for spots in working bands when I need to. Once I was jamming with a group and asked whether they did anything by Lynryd Skynyrd, like "Sweet Home Alabama," "Gimme Three Steps," etc.
One guy jumped up and said he wouldn't play their music because they were racists, since they used the Confederate flag as a backdrop. We had just finished doing an Alabama tune, and I pointed out that they also use the Stars & Bars as a backdrop. He said that he wasn't going to do any more Alabama tunes either.
I did *not* join that band. In fact, I packed up and left right then. People - especially liberals - can really be weird.
SCOTUS decisions do not hamper liberals other than the fact that they can't go back to court to enforce their warped world view, although I hope I'm not speaking too soon.
They don't let the SCOTUS decision supporting the Boy Scouts' right to restrict their membership from obstructing them however and whenever they can.
"mena" = "mean" (dammit, magic fingers)
Hm.
free dixie,sw
Kudos to the judge. It's about time one was found that had common sense!
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