San Diego, Calif., Sep 10, 2008 / 05:51 am
A federal judge ruled on Friday that a San Diego high school teacher has a free speech right to display patriotic banners in his classroom with messages such as “God Bless America,” “In God We Trust,” and “One Nation Under God.” School officials had ordered the banners removed on the grounds they promoted a “Judeo-Christian” viewpoint.
Brad Johnson, a high school math teacher, had displayed such red, white and blue banners in his Poway Unified School District high school for twenty-five years before they were ordered removed. The school district allowed classroom displays by other teachers that included posters of Buddhist and Islamic messages, Tibetan prayer flags, and other displays.
The Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center filed a federal lawsuit against the school district on Johnson’s behalf, arguing that the school district’s actions amounted to government hostility toward a specific religion. The lawsuit also alleged that the school district violated Johnson’s free speech rights by imposing a viewpoint-based restriction upon him, according to a Tuesday press release from the Thomas More Law Center.
The Poway Unified School District responded to the lawsuit with a motion seeking to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim.