Court may tackle school flag case

WASHINGTON — A 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 the free-speech rules for high schools.

Ever since students protested the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands, the justices have said the First Amendment protects the rights of students to peacefully protest at school, so long as their actions do not lead to a “substantial disruption.”

In recent years, however, some school officials have moved to curtail political fashion statements such as wearing T-shirts with Confederate flags or anti-gay slogans. They have argued that some limits were necessary to avoid offending other students and possibly provoking violence.

The appeal in Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified School District asks the justices to decide whether wearing an American flag can be curtailed as an unnecessary provocation, or instead is a right of every citizen protected by the First Amendment. A decision on whether they will accept the case could come as soon as today.

The legal battle began on May 5, 2010, at Live Oak High School south of San Jose, Calif., when several students wore shirts bearing the American flag on the Mexican holiday.

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.

Upon seeing the white students wearing U.S. flags, Mexican-American students called them racists and complained to Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriquez.

Fearing violence, the assistant principal told several of the white students wearing the American flag that they had to turn their shirts inside out or go home. They chose to leave.