{"id":134986,"date":"2017-10-07T17:44:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-07T23:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=134986"},"modified":"2017-10-08T10:44:04","modified_gmt":"2017-10-08T16:44:04","slug":"political-speech-cannot-compelled-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/07\/political-speech-cannot-compelled-state.html","title":{"rendered":"Political speech cannot be compelled by the state"},"content":{"rendered":"

And that includes some publc school districts levying punishment to student athletes who take a knee during the national anthem.<\/p>\n

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<\/i> say or do something patriotic as to tell them they must not.<\/i><\/p>\n

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<\/i> 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:<\/p>\n

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<\/b>. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nWhat the Supreme Court Says About Sitting Out the National Anthem<\/a><\/span>
\nSome public schools are telling student athletes they can’t kneel during the anthem \u2013 but that’s unconstitutional.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “Political speech cannot be compelled by the state”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,133,350,17,740,46,67,8],"tags":[1238],"class_list":["post-134986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-homeland-security","category-race-racism","category-school-daze","category-media-sports","category-zt-pc","tag-anthem"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/unnamed-6.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":131418,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/04\/why-do-americans-play-the-national-anthem-before-sporting-events.html","url_meta":{"origin":134986,"position":0},"title":"Why do Americans play the national anthem before sporting events?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 4-Sep-16 12:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because ... we just do. Starting as a one-off patriotic event in baseball during WWII, it's become the norm across all major league sports (and, for that matter, at high school games, too).That's not the norm elsewhere in the world, but Americans are highly ritualized in our patriotism, something that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135401,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/21\/nfl-looks-way-side-step-anthem-protest-issue.html","url_meta":{"origin":134986,"position":1},"title":"NFL looks for a way to side-step the anthem protest issue","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 21-Nov-17 7:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Prior to 2009, you didn't see all the players at NFL games standing the sidelines during the national anthem for prime time games. Prior to that year, NFL players in such games stayed in the locker room, though on Sunday afternoon games the players were out on the sidelines. [1]\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/NFL-anthem-protest.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24971,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/31\/in-honor-of-north-korea-lets-fine-people-for-not-singing-patriotic-songs-p.html","url_meta":{"origin":134986,"position":2},"title":"In honor of North Korea, let's fine people for not singing patriotic songs p…","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 31-Dec-11 11:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of North Korea, let's fine people for not singing patriotic songs properlyI mean, really? That's what America's all about?Now, mind you, I find most public performances of \"The Star-Spangled Banner\" to be awful, and usually examples of trying to draw attention to the singer through rills and flourishes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alan.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F12%2FLM_020411-300x200.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":137152,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/12\/more-anglophonic-flag-fetishists.html","url_meta":{"origin":134986,"position":3},"title":"More Anglophonic Flag Fetishists","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 12-Sep-18 3:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Glad (?) to see that the US isn't the only country with nationalists who demand that people hop-to and make proper compulsory displays of patriotic respect or else be punished. In this case, it's Australia, and the target is a 9-year old girl (and her parents). Originally shared by +Washington\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/australian-flag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21419,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/03\/the-national-anthem.html","url_meta":{"origin":134986,"position":4},"title":"The National Anthem","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 3-Jul-11 10:31pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Parade magazine once again raises the issue of whether \"The Star -Spangled Banner\" should (as it has been since 1931) be the national anthem, or if we should choose something else. They even have a poll. It's useless. Despite a plentitude of reasons why \"America the Beautiful\" should be the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holidays"","block_context":{"text":"Holidays","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/holidays"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/american-flag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":136538,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/05\/24\/dont-ask-dont-tell-on-anthem-protests-in-the-nfl.html","url_meta":{"origin":134986,"position":5},"title":"“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on Anthem Protests in the NFL","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 24-May-18 8:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"Amid angry tweets from the President, loud shouting from some football fans, and declining ratings (which were declining even before the episode), the NFL has partially caved on the whole \"taking a knee during the national anthem\" thing.\u00a0Under the new rules, which basically go back to the status quo ante\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/trump-singing-national-anthem.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134991,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134986\/revisions\/134991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}