[Paleo Conservative]

Once it is established that the crucifix regulation is flawed in logic, it is easy to make the next step: monetary damages.

What about firing the principal? Have any of these school officials ever read the US Constitution? What part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" do they not understand? Yes it says "Congress" but the 14th amendment prohibits states from infringing on the rights acknowleged in the Bill of Rights.

[jonrick46]

You have nailed it! The school district is not going to know what hit them.

[ReignOfError]

The courts have long accepted that schools act in loco parentis -- in the place of parents. A government may not stop its citizens from, say, Santaria-type animal sacrifices, but parents can prevent their children from doing so -- and so, by extension, can schools.

Besides that, schools have also traditionally been held to have more latitude to maintain order at the expense of individual students' rights than does the government to society at large.

Off-campus and outside school hours, students have the same rights as everyone else. While at school, they are subject to greater restrictions than when they're in a park or on the sidewalk. It's not that different, really, from acting a damn fool at a mall -- your right to do it, their right to make you leave.

[Hoodat]

Yes it says "Congress" but the 14th amendment prohibits states from infringing on the rights acknowledged in the Bill of Rights.

Sorry, that doesn't apply to Amendment I. Equal protection means that states cannot infringe on the people's protection from Congress.

The right afforded by Amendment I is a protection from Congress ONLY. It does not say the people have a right to free speech, etc. It only says they have the right of protection from the US Congress. And by the equal protection clause of Amendment XIV, that right of protection from an act of Congress is extended to everyone.