Wednesday, September 17, 2008



CA teacher can sue to restore patriotic banners



We read:
"A high school mathematics teacher has won a round in federal court in his fight to put "God Bless America" and "One Nation Under God" banners back in his classroom.

Brad Johnson, a teacher at Westview High in San Diego County, had the banners up in his classroom for two decades, but last year the principal ordered him to take them down, saying they were an impermissible attempt to make a Judeo-Christian statement to his students.

Johnson sued in federal court. Poway Unified School District officials sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that, as a public employee, Johnson had only limited 1st Amendment rights while on the job and that the principal had authority over what was put on classroom walls.

In a blistering 23-page decision, U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez rejected the district's motion as legally faulty and blasted its "brash" attempt to take down the banners. The jurist noted that the district allowed other teachers to put up posters with Buddhist and Islamic messages, posters of rock bands including Nirvana and the Clash, and Tibetan prayer rugs.

Johnson's banners, Benitez wrote, were patriotic expressions deeply rooted in American history. "By squelching only Johnson's patriotic expression, the school district does a disservice to the students of Westview High School, and the federal and state constitutions do not permit such one-sided censorship," Benitez wrote in a ruling issued last week.

Source

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute - is there ANOTHER state called California? Because this ruling certainly doesn't sound like anything that would come from the land of Ahrnuld! I mean look - it's logical, reasoned, and fair! OMG!

Anonymous said...

cool

Anonymous said...

Something tells me this obviously sane judge can expect to be asked to leave Mexifornia soon, as his rational decision is not in keeping with that state's judicial philosophy.

Anonymous said...

In a word: Amen!

Anonymous said...

Lots of Federal Judges have some common sense. The next level here is the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. And it is here that most of the BS comes from. The ninth is the most reversed court in the Nation. In fact back in the late 1980’s, when California was having its first execution, one judge on the ninth, keep on issuing a “Stay” and then SCOTUS would overturn it. Well after the Third go around of this process, SCOTUS told the Warden at San Quentin not to listen to anything the Ninths said regarding this one execution.

So the Ninth will go the other way and then we get to wait to see if SCOTUS agrees to review it and then to see what their decision is.

Mobius

Anonymous said...

If President Bush can appoint some new judges to the Ninth Appellate Circuit, that would be a good thing to do in his final few months.

Anonymous said...

Another blow to the atheists,secular scoundrels in the ACLU