On The Front Lines
Institute Defends Student Suspended for Wearing Marine T-Shirt!
Rutherford Institute Attorneys File Suit in District Court on Behalf of Indiana Student's Free Speech RightsFORT WAYNE, Ind.--Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana to protect the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of a high school student who was suspended under his school's dress code policy for wearing a T-shirt bearing the likeness of an M-16 rifle and the text of the Marine Corps creed. Institute attorneys argue that the zero tolerance nature of the dress code's provisions, which ban clothing bearing any reference to symbols of violence, violates core First Amendment principles. Institute attorneys pointed out in their complaint that the right of Indiana students to express messages via the articles of clothing that they wear is protected by the United States and Indiana Constitutions.
On March 17, 2003, 16-year-old Nelson Griggs, a sophomore at Elmhurst High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., wore a T-shirt to school that bore the image of an M-16 rifle, the standard issue American military rifle, and a portion of a work entitled "My Rifle," also known as the "Marine Corps Creed." Written by Major General William H. Rupertus (USMC, Ret.) following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942, the Marine Corps Creed is widely accepted and quoted in the American military, law enforcement and rifle sports communities as a statement of personal responsibility and rifle safety. On the day Nelson wore the T-shirt, school officials informed him that he would face discipline if he wore the shirt again. The following day, believing that he possessed a constitutional right under the First Amendment to display the Marine Corps Creed and logo, Nelson again wore the T-shirt to school. Elmhurst High School Principal Laura Taliaferro ordered Nelson to serve in-school suspension and threatened him with graver consequences, including out-of-school suspension, if he wore the shirt again. Principal Taliaferro then notified Nelson's father, David Griggs, that the T-shirt was "inappropriate for the school setting." Ironically, hanging on the wall of the room to which Nelson was sent to serve his in-school suspension was a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting poster depicting a marine holding an M-16 rifle identical to the one shown on Nelson's shirt. In filing suit against the school district, Institute attorneys have asked that school officials cease restricting students' free speech rights through their enforcement of the dress code policy. Institute attorneys also pointed out that because the dress code's provisions are substantially overbroad, they could result in students being subjected to disciplinary action for wearing clothing on which such commonplace items are depicted as, for example, the Seal of the City of Fort Wayne (depicting a sword).
"The right of students to express themselves through the articles of clothing that they wear is protected by the First Amendment," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "This case is yet another example of school officials going too far in their efforts to regulate student expression for the so-called purpose of creating a safer school environment."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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