TRI In The News

Judge Endorses Censorship of Old Glory

From World Net Daily
Original article available here

The same federal judge who said it was perfectly fine for a homosexual judge in a long-term relationship with another man to rule on a dispute over homosexual marriage – a ruling from which he might benefit – now has concluded that it's all right for a school to censor clothing displaying the American flag because there were students who threatened violence against those wearing the clothing.

The judge, James Ware, of the federal court in the Northern District of California's San Francisco Division, has dismissed a complaint brought against the Morgan Hill Unified School District where the Old Glory theme on student T-shirts had been censored.

He found that it was reasonable because there were students who apparently hated the emblem enough to threaten with violence other students who were wearing it, and the censorship was "equal" even though the Mexican flag was not also censored because no one threatened violence against the students wearing that emblem.

The case was brought by parents of the students who had been ordered by school officials either to change their Old Glory shirts, turn them inside out or go home. They sued, alleging constitutional violations.

Nonsense, wrote Ware.

Only those students whose Old Glory-based clothing prompted threats of violence were ordered to change, he noted.

"Plaintiffs have offered no evidence demonstrating that students wearing the colors of the Mexican flag were likely to be targeted for violence, and that officials treated all students for whose safety they feared in the same manner," he said.

"Here... [the school officials] have provided a non-discriminatory basis for asking plaintiffs to remove their American flag attire. Defendants have put forth signficiant evidence demonstrating that plaintiffs (wearing the American flag colors) were asked to change clothes in order to protect their own safety.

"The undisputed evidence shows that plaintiffs were the only students on campus whose safety was threatened that day," Ware said.

"This is nothing more than a victory for political correctness," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, which worked on the case.

"If the court's decision is allowed to stand, any speech a school official happens to dislike will be censored. Those who wrote our Constitution would be shocked," he said.

The dispute developed on May 5, 2010, when several Live Oak High School students wore patriotic T-shirts, shorts and shoes to school bearing various images of the U.S. flag.

They were told by Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez that they could not wear their pro-U.S. T-shirts. According to the Rutherford Institute report, he lectured them about the Hispanic Cinco de Mayo holiday and said he'd gotten complaints from Hispanic students about the apparel who said they were offended by the imagery on "their" day.

Principal Nick Boden also participated in the discussions, the report said.

The complaint alleged violations by the school of the free speech, due process and equal protection rights.

Attorneys say they will appeal.

The judge's ruling said after Mexican students walked around the school with a Mexcian flag, "Caucasian" students also put an image of a U.S. flag on a tree.

"One Mexican student shouted, 'F--- them white boys, f--- them white boys,'" the judge wrote.

When Rodriguez told him to stop using such language, the Mexican student said, "But Rodriguez, they are racist. They are being racist. F--- them white boys. Let's f--- them up.'"

The judge noted in another situation that a "male student" approached one of the plaintiffs and "shoved a Mexican flag at him."

A female student also "approached plaintiff M.D., motioned to his shirt, and said, 'why are you wearing that, do you not like Mexicans?'" the judge wrote.

Because of such behavior, the school officials were correct to blame those wearing the attire and take action.

"The court finds that they did not violate the First Amendment by asking plaintiffs to turn their shirts inside out," Ware wrote.

He also said there were no due process or state constitutional violations.

The plaintiffs are John and Dianna Dariano, Kurt and Julie Ann Fagerstrom and Kendall and Joy Jones, on behalf of their children. The case is being brought by the Becker Law Firm of Los Angeles, the Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Rutherford Institute.

The students patriotic to the U.S. were wearing their shirts at the same time the school allowed students to wear pro-Mexican shirts, body paint displaying the Mexican flag and other displays to express their support for Mexico.

"The American flag is a sacred symbol of our country," said Richard Thompson, chief counsel for the Thomas More Law Center. "Too many Americans – including those of Mexican descent – have suffered and died protecting it.

"It's incomprehensible that American school officials would demand that students remove this display of love for country. We're Americans 365 days a year. The students were right not to surrender our flag," Thompson said.

For Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is significant because it marks the Mexican army's victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Ware previously made the headlines when he affirmed the ruling from former judge Vaughn Walker that struck down the voter-approved Proposition 8, which defined in the state constitution marriage as being between one man and one woman.

He said simply a judge who is homosexual and may benefit from his own ruling is allowed to preside in the case.

And he blasted those who thought that a judge should avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

"Reasonableness is not determined on the basis of what a particular group of individuals may think, nor even on the basis of what a majority of individuals in a group believe to be the case," he said in that case, which currently is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.