Judge backs student's Bush 'terrorist' t-shirt

Detroit - A federal court judge ruled on Wednesday that a Detroit-area school acted improperly in barring a student anti-war protester from wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of President Bush and the words "International Terrorist."

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in March claiming that the constitutional rights of Bretton Barber were violated a month earlier by Dearborn High School when it ordered him to either wear the T-shirt inside out or go home.

In a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Duggan in Detroit said the school had failed to back its claim that the T-shirt threatened to create a "disturbance or disruption" at Dearborn High.

He also rejected the school's argument that the schoolyard was an inappropriate place for political debate.

"In fact, as (the courts) have emphasized, students benefit when school officials provide an environment where they can openly express their diverging viewpoints and when they learn to tolerate the opinions of others," Duggan wrote in his decision.

Lawyers for the school could not be reached for immediate comment on Duggan's ruling.

But Andrew Nickelhoff, a lawyer who argued the case on behalf of the ACLU, hailed it as "an important civics lesson" for students across the United States.

"This case teaches that the First Amendment protects our right to express our opinions, and that sometimes we must have the courage -- as Brett Barber did -- to defend our rights," Nickelhoff said in a statement. -- Reuters

Click Here To Have Your Say On This Story

Brudirect.com News