Three Missouri high school students were suspended from school for wearing confederate flag clothing because of several racial incidents in school.
The students have now lost the suit against their public high school because of a 1995 dress-code policy saying, “dress that materially disrupts the educational environment will be prohibited," reports an online article from firstamendmentcenter.org. Some townspeople have taken discriminatory actions against some black residents, as recently as in 2005.
A few of the three students’ classmates dressed in confederate clothing in support of their friends that were suspended, not to incite racial discrimination. They argued that they had a right to wear it under the First Amendment. In August 2007, U.S. District Judge Jean C. Hamilton ruled on the side of the school officials, using the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1969 ruling Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist. when they barred the Confederate symbol from campus.
The students appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at the end of January where the previous ruling was upheld. One of the judges said, “no other circuit [court of appeals] has required the administration to wait for an actual disruption before acting,” reports the online article.
- In the spectrum of people covered by the First Amendment, where is the rights of high school students (no rights, some right, all rights...)
- Can you think of any other offensive material students wear that is not illegal under the First Amendment?
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