An Oregon school will have to pay a teen $25,000 and the principal offer a personal apology after suspending him for wearing a pro-Trump t-shirt.
The Washington Times reports:
Addison Barnes, the young man who was suspended during his senior year of high school for wearing a “Trump Wall” shirt to school, will receive $25,000 in legal fees and an apology from his old principal.
Lawyers for the 18-year-old Trump supporter announced this week that Hillsboro School District in Oregon settled a lawsuit over First Amendment rights. Mr. Barnes was accused of creating a “hostile learning environment” in January for wearing his shirt to Liberty High School, despite the fact that his teacher’s room included a sign that read: “Sanctuary City, Welcome Home.”
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman issued a temporary restraining order in late May, which allowed the student to wear his shirt for the last few days of the school year.
Banning Trump shirts and hats in schools is blatantly unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that public schools cannot ban non-disruptive political speech by students. In that case, Tinker v. Des Moines, four teens sued their school district after they were suspended for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War.
The Court ruled in favor of the students, declaring “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
Anti-Trump school officials don’t seem to have gotten the lesson.
In some of the more notable cases:
* A New Jersey high school had to reissue its yearbooks after it Photoshopped several students’ photos to remove shirt logos supporting Trump.
* A Georgia school superintendent had to apologize after video footage captured a math teacher telling two students their “MAGA” shirts were banned and could not be worn in class.
* A school in Williamson County, Tennessee blacked out broadcasts of Trump’s inauguration in its classrooms.
Look for more schools to violate the Constitution during the 2020 re-election campaign.
AAN Staff
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