Prayer-Soldier writes "
On 2 Jul 10, NewsObserver.com posted an article which reported that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that two Plano, TX principals can be liable for not letting students hand out gifts with religious messages.
The case stemmed from the confiscation of gifts during elementary school holiday parties in 2001 and 2003. The gifts included candy cane pens which were passed out with cards which contained a description of the Christian origin of the candy cane and pencils which were marked with the message, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” According to a 7 Jul 10, OneNewsNow.com report, the case also includes an incident where a class was prevented from writing "Merry Christmas" on holiday cards it was sending to deployed soldiers.
The article quoted Kelly Shackelford, president of the Plano-based conservative Liberty Institute, who said, “This is a big win for the First Amendment and for millions of students nationwide." The Liberty Institute is representing the families in the lawsuit.
According to a 2 Jul 10, Associated Press article posted by Houston Belief, the principals “argued the First Amendment's freedom of speech protection does not extend to the distribution of non-curricular materials in public elementary schools.”
According to a 30 Jun 10, court record posted by FindLaw.com, the court concluded, “Appellants thus had fair warning that the suppression of student-to-student distribution of literature on the basis of religious viewpoint is unlawful under the First Amendment with respect to elementary school students. Therefore, Appellants are not entitled to qualified immunity. ”
Cited Articles and Posts
NewsObserver.com (2 Jul 10)
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/02/563196/texas-principals-in-religious.html
OneNewsNow.com (7 Jul 10)
Houston Belief (2 Jul 10)
FindLaw.com (30 Jun 10)
"
