In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the right of a California high school to ban a student from wearing a T-shirt proclaiming: "Be Ashamed, Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned", and "Homosexuality Is Shameful". In Harper v. Poway Unified School District, (9th Cir., April 20, 2006) (majority opinion, dissent), the court, in a decision written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, refused to grant Tyler Chase Harper a preliminary injunction finding that it was unlikely that he would succeed on the merits of his free speech, free exercise of religion or establishment clause claims. The court found that Harper's wearing of his T-shirt collided with the rights of other students' right to be free from verbal assault. The court also held that there was no evidence that the school's actions imposed a substantial burden on Harper's free exercise of religious belief. It said the Constitution does not prohibit the school from teaching the virtues of tolerance, even if that is inconsistent with a student's religious views. Finally the court found that the school had a legitimate secular purpose in taking the action it did.
Judge Alex Kozinski dissenting, argued that the court should have granted a preliminary injunction preventing the school from banning Harper's T-shirt and barring the school from enforcing its anti-harassment policy as overbroad. He argued that the school was engaged in viewpoint discrimination, and that there was insufficient evidence that the statements on Harper's T-shirt in fact harmed gay and lesbian students. Today's Los Angeles Times reports on the decision.
