Flap Over American Flag Shirt at Morgan Hill School Continues

Years after the television cameras have left, the legal appeal continues.

They still have the shirts -- and they still have their lawsuit.

More than three years after students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill angered administrators by wearing American flag t-shirts to school on Cinco de Mayo -- a day known for conflict between white and Latino students at the south Santa Clara County school -- a free speech lawsuit filed against the school is still pending, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

On Thursday, a federal appeals court will hear out the parents of the four teens -- who have gone off to college -- as they try to get a judge to rule on a lawsuit that's already been dismissed, the newspaper reported.

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At least five teenage boys wore t-shirts with American flags on them on Cinco de Mayo, including one Latino student.

They were told by school administrators -- who had had to deal with violence at school before -- to turn the t-shirts inside out.

The case drew national attention from Fox News, and the continuing case is drawing support from conservative legal groups, who are funding the legal appeal, the newspaper reported.

At issue is the question of free speech versus a school's ability to prevent violence.

A judge ruled that school administrators weren't infringing on free speech rights and were instead trying to maintain order.

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The school has largely moved on: Principal Nick Boden and other administrators involved in the fracas have since moved on, the newspaper reported.

But if the federal appeals court doesn't reverse the lower ruling and rule that the students' First Amendment rights were infringed, parents are ready to take it all the way to the top -- the U.S. Supreme Court, the newspaper reported.

 

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