Judge Endorses Censorship of Old Glory

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.

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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 significant 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.

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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.

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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.”

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