You folks know I'm an ardent supporter of student First Amendment rights -- but I recognize that there are limits. So when I first saw information about this incident, I wanted more details.

Well, now we have more details -- and I come down on the side of the school here.

A Texas high school sophomore's parents might sue after the school booted the student from campus for wearing a John Edwards for 2008 president T-shirt.

Pete Palmer, a sophomore at Waxahachie High School, says he didnÂ’t think he was doing anything wrong wearing the political shirt to school.

But according to the Waxahachie Independent School District dress code, students can't wear shirts with political slogans.

“T-shirts, other than WISD clubs, organizations, sports, or spirit t-shirts, college or university t-shirts or solid-colored t-shirts, are prohibited," according to the policy.

Peter and his folks, however, claim the regs interfere with free speech -- and they are correct. The problem, however, is that it does not IMPERMISSIBLY interfere with free speech.

You see, dress codes -- even school uniforms -- are generally acceptable, provided that they are applied in an even-handed manner. In a case like this, where we have a school creating a rule that bans all but school-related t-shirts and college/university t-shirts with writing on them, you have a clearly defined policy. Assuming that it is consistently applied in an even-handed fashion, there can be no argument made that the speech ban that results was content-based, and so the regulation would pass constitutional muster.

It would be nice if Palmer's dad, a lawyer, actually cited more extensive precedent to support his position. Instead, we get only this shallow reasoning that is based more on emotion than the law.

“It’s a first amendment constitutional right that people have fought and died for and I don’t know why he should give it up just because Waxahachie thinks it would be okay or neat for him to do so,” Paul Palmer said.

Paul referenced a recent Vermont case where a student wore an anti-Bush shirt to school and the courts ruled in his favor.

Well, if the school were arguing that it is "ok or neat" for kids to surrender their rights, that would be one thing -- but that isn't the argument. Instead, the argument is that for valid disciplinary and academic reasons, the school restricts dress to promote student safety and academic performance. Such regulations of student dress are regularly upheld by the courts.

But what about Tinker and all the other cases I cite on a regular basis? Well, all of them note that schools may impose content-neutral restrictions upon student speech so as to maintain order and discipline in a school setting. None of them goes so far as to suggest that any regulation that impinges upon student speech is inherently invalid. Based upon this, I would expect any suit to be dismissed on its merits before trial.

This is not to say that I think the policy is everything it should be. If the Palmer family has a problem with it, I'd suggest running for the school board on a platform that calls for the elimination or modification of the dress code.

And then there is always this neat suggestion from Capitol Annex, which I think is the perfect way to creatively comply with the policy and still get your message across. Heck, as I read the policy I see nothing to prohibit the young man from wearing a polo shirt with an Edwards logo on it, or from wearing a campaign button on his shirt and a bumper sticker on his backpack. In short, it isn't the message that is the problem here, it is the means he is choosing to communicate it. That fact will certainly doom any litigation.

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Posted by: Greg at 10:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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