Political speech cannot be compelled by the state

And that includes some publc school districts levying punishment to student athletes who take a knee during the national anthem.

You cannot force someone by law or other threat of state punishment to express (or not express) political sentiment. That includes patriotic displays. It would be as wrong (and illegal) to tell someone they must say or do something patriotic as to tell them they must not.

The Supreme Court has been very clear on this, dating back to the pretty-hyper-patriotic days of the Second World War. They ruled in Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that students could not be compelled to pledge allegiance to the flag (emphasis mine), as it would be a violation of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech:

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.

It that’s so for an explicit expression like the Pledge of Allegiance, how much more so for standing or hand-over-hearting for a patriotic tune? And calling something a “tradition” or saying that such protest must be done “respectfully” (i.e., out of sight) is no way to dodge around it, either.

Regardless of how one feels about the merits of such national anthem protests, they are in their own way more attuned to what the flag and the nation behind it stand for than “officials, high or petty” demanding behavioral orthodoxy and expressions of patriotism under threat of penalty.

What the Supreme Court Says About Sitting Out the National Anthem
Some public schools are telling student athletes they can’t kneel during the anthem – but that’s unconstitutional.

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