Officials at a Northern California high school acted appropriately when they ordered students wearing American flag T-shirts to turn the garments inside out during the Mexican heritage celebration Cinco de Mayo, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.



The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the officials' concerns of racial violence outweighed students' freedom of expression rights. Administrators feared the American-flag shirts would enflame the passions of Latino students celebrating the Mexican holiday. Live Oak High School, in the San Jose suburb of Morgan Hill, had a history of problems between white and Latino students on that day.



The unanimous three-judge panel said past problems gave school officials sufficient and justifiable reasons for their actions. The court said schools have wide latitude in curbing certain civil rights to ensure campus safety.

That would appear to be one unintended legal consequence of the recent 9th Circuit Court's decision concerning limits on the freedom of expression There is even less question of the connection between blacks and racial violence than American flag T-shirts and racial violence. So, now that we know "concerns of racial violence" supersede the 1st Amendment in public schools, it should be obvious that they must supersede every other Constitutional and legal stricture as well.That's an incantation to which everyone should learn to resort. "I'm sorry, I fear racial violence on the basis of past problems." It's a free legal pass to restore freedom of association.In fact, Live Oak High could probably cite this decision in refusing to permit Hispanic students to attend school on Cinco de Mayo. Or, as is more likely the case, white students.

Labels: law