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COURT BACKS STUDENTS IN ARM BAND CASE

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 10:07 AM CDT

ARKANSAS NEWS BUREAU

LITTLE ROCK — Officials of a Southeast Arkansas school district violated students’ right to free speech when they disciplined students for wearing armbands to protest the district’s uniform policy, a federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday.

The three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis affirmed a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Leon Holmes in Little Rock, which also said a Watson Chapel School District policy requiring students to get approval before handing out literature was a violation of free speech.

In 2006, more than 30 junior high and high school students of the district in Pine Bluff wore black armbands to school to protest the school-uniform policy, which included suspension for students who wore shirts with too many buttons or pants with extra pockets on the side. They also contended school officials were inconsistent in enforcing the dress code.

Students who wore armbands were suspended from school and were unable to participate in clubs or other extracurricular activities. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas later filed a lawsuit on behalf of three of the students.

Last year, Holmes ruled the disciplinary action violated students’ free speech by punishing them for wearing the armbands. The district appealed the Arkansas judge’s ruling, as well as his order awarding students $45,601 for attorneys’ fees and out-of-pocket expenses.

In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the 8th Circuit panel said the “district court was correct to find that ... a violation of plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights has been established” and that the district court “was acting within its discretion in deciding such a fee award.”

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