Supreme Court may hear case on school barring American flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo
California school dispute that arose when students wore shirts emblazoned with the American flag on Cinco de Mayo could prompt the Supreme Court to take a new look at free-speech rules for high schools ...
The legal battle began on May 5, 2010, at Live Oak High School south of San Jose, when several students wore shirts bearing the American flag on the Mexican holiday marking the May 5, 1862, defeat of French invaders ...
Their protest came in response to an incident the year before when a group of Mexican American students unfurled a Mexican flag on the holiday and paraded around the campus, triggering tensions with white students who began chanting, "USA! USA!" ...
Upon seeing the white students wearing U.S. flags, Mexican students called them racists and complained to Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez ...
"This is heartbreaking to the students and parents who see the flag as a symbol of national unity," said Los Angeles lawyer William Becker, who sued on behalf of several parents. "It rewards those who believe the flag is a symbol of hostility toward minorities. If they think there is a problem, then don't hold a Cinco de Mayo celebration." ...
Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain dissented, saying the ruling "permits the will of the mob to rule our schools." He noted that 1st Amendment law frowns on a "heckler's veto," by which a speaker can be shut down not for what he says, but how others may react. He questioned how the wearing of an American flag shirt could be seen as offensive or disruptive ...
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