SCOTUS mulls hearing case banning flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo

What's on SCOTUS' docket? The justices met Friday to decide whether or not to hear Dariano vs. Morgan Hill Unified School District, an appeal that asks if wearing an American flag shirt is a right protected under the First Amendment or a fashion statement that could provoke violence.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the controversy began in 2010 at Live Oak High School, south of San Jose, California. Several students, responding to a group of Mexican-American students who had paraded campus with a Mexican flag on Cinco de Mayo the year before, wore U.S. flags on the Mexican holiday in protest. The Mexican-American students, protesting racism, complained to the school's principal, who told the students to turn their shirts inside-out or go home.

Families in favor of free expression filed suit, while the school asserts necessary measures were taken to avoid violence. The L.A. Times reports that school officials said there were at least 30 fights between white and Latino students.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

The justices will decide as early as today whether or not they'll hear the case.