United States District Court

The ACLU of Kentucky represented Amber Jewell, an Apollo High School (Daviess County) student who had been sanctioned for wearing a Confederate flag t-shirt to school.  We argued that, absent proof of disruption or violence, free speech principles entitled Amber to express her views by wearing the t-shirt.   The First Amendment prohibits public schools from banning student expression unless the school has reason to predict that the expression will cause material and substantial disruption at school.  Moreover, even when schools may regulate student expression, they must do so in a viewpoint-neutral manner.

During litigation, Apollo High School produced sufficient evidence of racial incidents related to similar displays that we thought it likely that the ban was lawful.  However, the school was not providing notice to students of the ban prior to imposing discipline.  We argued that the school’s failure to do so deprived Amber and others of procedural due process.  We ultimately settled the case, with school officials agreeing to notify students at the beginning of the school year that the emblem is banned.  In addition, the school agreed to conduct racial diversity training, in an effort to address recurring problems of racism in the school.