Student suspended for wearing "Obama: A Terrorist's Best Friend" T-shirt

Volokh, Eugene VOLOKH at law.ucla.edu
Tue Sep 23 15:31:48 PDT 2008


http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7490636&v
ersion=6&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1 -- apparently a local
TV station's Web site -- reports:

"An 11-year-old in Aurora says his first amendment rights are being
trampled after he was suspended for wearing a homemade shirt that reads
'Obama is a terrorist's best friend.'

"The fifth grader at Aurora Frontier K-8 School wore it on a day when
students were asked to wear red, white and blue to show their
patriotism....

"According the the boy's father, the school district told the student,
Daxx Dalton, that he had the choice of changing his shirt, turning his
shirt inside out or being suspended....

"Aurora Public Schools would not talk about the case but said the
district 'Respects a student's right to free speech, such as the right
to wear specific clothing,' but administrators say they review any
situation that interrupts the learning environment.

"Paperwork submitted by the school district says Daxx Dalton was not
suspended for wearing the shirt, but for willful disobedience and
defiance...."

	Any thoughts on what would be the right approach in this sort of
case?  I realize that we don't have a lot of factual details here.

	Eugene


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