Heckler’s Veto

Today’s Daily Caller posted a story about the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to uphold a California high school’s ban on American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.

The article reports:

Officials at Live Oak High School banned American flags on May 5, 2010 because the year before there had been altercations between white students and Mexican students. There were American flags and chants of “USA.” According to reports, there were also Mexican flags and kids running around saying, “Fuck them white boys. Let’s f**k them up.”

On Cinco de Mayo in 2010, students who showed up with American flags on their shirts were asked to turn the shirts inside out.

The article concludes:

As UCLA law professor and Washington Post law blogger Eugene Volokh notes, the First Amendment typically does not allow government entities to censor speech this way. However, order and tranquility are paramount in a school setting. The Ninth Circuit’s decision arguably accords with previous case law. At the same  time, it amounts to a “heckler’s veto” allowing violent people to co-opt the government into using its own compulsion to enact their desires.

I have a few problems with this. Why weren’t the Mexican students disciplined when they acted up? Why didn’t the school tell the Mexican students that the celebration would  be cancelled unless they behaved? Were the Mexican students allowed to wear Mexican shirts? If a student is violent or threatening violence, why not punish that student instead of limiting the freedom of other students? Why weren’t violent students suspended? Other than that, the decision makes perfect sense. Sure.

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