Jordan Zachman of Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tennessee, says he was escorted to his truck and told by a school official to remove the flag, according to WTVC Chattanooga. The next day, many fellow students showed up in solidarity with Zachman, flying Trump flags and American flags on their cars and trucks.
AFN talked with Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, about the incident. Students, he explained, "clearly" have a right to free speech during non-instructional times.
"In between classes, before and after school, certainly outside of the classroom actual instruction, they have a right to freedom of speech – and it includes political speech," he added. "In this case, when the students flew the flags, particularly those that flew on the back of pickup trucks or cars … in the parking lot, they're always during non-instructional time. So, they clearly have a right to be able to have those flags on their vehicles."
The attorney continued: "The school's effort to censor has obviously backfired, not only from a practical standpoint but certainly from a constitutional standpoint."
While encouraging students to understand their rights, Staver cautioned they also need to know when it's appropriate to defy authority.
"Certainly, students need to comply with authority," he offered. "But when that authority is acting in an unconstitutional manner, they have a right to be able to assert their rights."
But times have changed. "[In the past,] school officials didn't have a problem flying flags – lots of flags were flown on the back of pickup trucks or other vehicles. But now what you see is school officials [are] becoming more ideologically oriented and trying to suppress student speech. That's not going to work with these particular students of today's generation."
Staver emphasized that school officials – ideological or not – must operate within constitutional parameters.
