An elementary school in Kansas has raised a novel question under the First Amendment: whether the freedom of speech includes the right to use the word “freedom.” According to some media reports, Arbor Creek Elementary Principal Melissa Snell stopped the wearing of shirts reading “Freedom,” which have become popular after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The move is clearly a violation under the First Amendment, in my view.
Libs of TikTok posted an email exchange between Arbor Creek Elementary Principal Melissa Snell and an (unnamed) individual in which Snell confirmed the ban. The email stated: “I just want to make sure that you have told your staff to not wear those ‘Freedom’ shirts to school anymore. Thank you.”
Snell allegedly responded: “Yes, I have. Was there someone in particular that you are referring to? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Our crackerjack investigatory unit at Res Ipsa was able to find that person for Snell from what appears to be video of students of Arbor Creek:
Notably, the Olathe Public Schools district itself sells “We All Belong Together” shirts via its Department of Culture and Belonging. However, “Freedom” shirts were banned, at least temporarily.
Deputy Superintendent Lachelle Sigg wrote to the school community that the district “remain[s] committed to […] honoring all first amendment rights and ensuring that personal expression does not disrupt the educational setting.”
If so, that commitment is more rhetorical than actual.
Superintendent Brent Yeager confirmed the emails that Libs of TikTok had posted earlier in the week, but suggested that it was temporary as Snell “reviewed district practices.”
I fail to see why Snell had to suspend the wearing of such shirts pending review. This is clearly a content-based limitation on speech.
In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), the Supreme Court upheld the right of students to wear armbands protesting the Vietnam War, famously writing, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
This does not involve the type of “lewd,” “vulgar,” “indecent,” or “plainly offensive” speech discussed in cases such as Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986). It is a statement of solidarity between the freedom of speech, a statement made more poignant and urgent with the murder of Kirk for exercising that right.
It is also not a celebration of unlawful conduct, as in Morse v. Frederick (2007), as opposed to the exercise of our most “Indispensable Right.”
It is a good thing that Joseph Cinqué did not try to enroll at Arbor Creek Elementary:
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the bestselling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
If there is insufficient evidence that the word “Freedom” is likely to produce imminent violence, there is no reason for a public school official to be so unaware of the Constitution.
“Pope Leo Offers Another Jibe at Trump Over Deportations — Urges Catholics to Embrace Open Borders Under ‘New Missionary Age’”
– Ben Kew
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Try Thou Shalt Not Covet, Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness (“asylum fraud”), and Thou Shalt Not Steal (another’s country), Pope.
Also, “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” – Control of borders is a legitimate governmental function. He thinks the criminals crossing the border are building the RC Church in the US but his hypocrisy actually drive law abiding Catholics away.
AI Overview
“Microsoft hired former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco as its new president of global affairs in May 2025.”
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AI Overview
As Deputy Attorney General under President Joe Biden, Lisa Monaco was involved in the Justice Department’s federal investigations into Donald Trump. Her actions were supervisory and administrative, with decisions maintained as independent of political influence.
Key areas of Monaco’s actions concerning Trump:
Oversight of investigations: Monaco had a supervisory role in the special counsel investigations led by Jack Smith, which covered Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.
January 6 response: She helped coordinate the Justice Department’s response to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. This included the prosecution of many of the rioters.
“Fake electors” plot: In January 2022, Monaco publicly confirmed that the DOJ was investigating the fake electors plot related to the 2020 election.
Election Threats Task Force: Monaco regularly participated in the Election Threats Task Force, established by Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute threats against election workers.
When a city tells its police force not to respond to the scene of violent crime whenever the violence is directed at federal officers carrying out lawful orders to enforce the immigration laws that are passed by Congress and remain on the books, isn’t that a kind of official insurrection against the federal government? Or has the city in essence declared war on the federal government?
The city leaders in Chicago and Portland are now doing that. The violence directed at the federal agents is coordinated and funded. It is a sophisticated operation. For example, there was a coordinated attack by approximately 10 vehicles that surrounded and blocked the egress of federal agents in Chicago yesterday. One of the attackers was even armed with a semi-automatic weapon.
Below are two of the assailants, including the woman with a semi-automatic weapon. They are in custody. Also, below that, is video footage of part of the incident, in which you can clearly see the assailants ramming the federal vehicle with their own vehicle.
https://x.com/jj_talking/status/1974857410906083717
https://x.com/KimKatieUSA/status/1974831359865790967
I’m very puzzled by why the assailant with the firearm was only wounded, and why the ICE officers apparently responded with what the accounts I read termed “defensive fire”. Now, make no mistake, I heartily disapprove of some conduct on the part of law enforcement that I regard as abuses of power, imo that happens far too often. BUT, if you are a cop and you are fired upon, or assaulted with a vehicle, or are the target of any other attack that threatens your life, the concept of “defensive fire”, or “shooting to wound (or deter)” is absurd. The only correct defense from a violent assault is to use whatever means you have to end that assault as quickly and effectively as possible, which in many, if not most, cases, means shooting to kill.
Yes that’s puzzling. Maybe those particular officers were under orders to avoid lethality if reasonably possible, and maybe the specifics of the situation made it possible to avoid a death. I’m just speculating here. But one thing I’ve learned in my years as a lawyer is that the devil is almost always in the details.
Yes, it is a rebellion. They are riding a razor blade’s edge of insurrection.
They shouldn’t be surprised if they end up at the end of the line when good things (like factories and military installations) are being considered. I bet new start businesses are down and tourism.
Chicago police officers were ordered by their chief of patrol not to respond after Border Patrol agents called for help, saying they were boxed in and surrounded following a ramming incident outside the city
The message instructed officers not to respond to a Saturday morning ramming on the southwest side of the city in which an armed woman was shot and agents were boxed in and surrounded
https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-police-sources-blast-departments-response-after-officers-were-told-not-help-fed-agents-cover-a
This is a full-on insurrection against the federal government by the City of Chicago.
INSURRECTION, YOU SAY?
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Proclamation 80—Calling Forth the Militia and Convening an Extra Session of Congress
“On April 15, 1861,…President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling forth the state militias, to the sum of 75,000 troops, in order to suppress the rebellion. He appealed ‘to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union.’”
Proclamation 92—Warning to Rebel Sympathizers
“[On] July 17, 1862,…I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to and warn all persons within the contemplation of said sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, countenancing, or abetting the existing rebellion or any rebellion against the Government of the United States and to return to their proper allegiance to the United States on pain of the forfeitures and seizures as within and by said sixth section provided.”
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Abraham Lincoln was a Great American President.
Now President Donald J. Trump MUST implement his rendition of “The Lincoln Era,” close the border, rescind rebel sanctuary cities, compassionately repatriate all illegal and unassimilable aliens, revoke birthright citizenship, make English the sole official language, commence a war to defeat the rebellion, impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus, “smash” rebel printing presses, networks, podcasts, and social media platforms, and imprison political opponents and rebel judges, all in order to save, not the Union, but the Nation, eradicate the communist American welfare state, and place America squarely back on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, including absolute freedom, free enterprise, free industries, free markets, private property, and minimal taxation and regulation, alongside infinitesimal constitutional government.
The Federal officers have the backing of the Federal government to pursue reactions to Federal actions. If the Feds arrive to stir up the locals the Feds should handle that. Maybe don’t kick in the doors of hundreds of apartments in the middle of the night in order to find dozens of people. The apartments were left unsecured and agents robbed them of contents, moved contents between apartments, and have likely put many out of jobs as they lost identifications, car keys, wallets, clothing, a place to sleep, and others. A clear violation of 4th and 5th amendments.
This was not the lawful execution of lawful orders.
There is no video showing 10 vehicles blocking Federal agents; almost all guns that are in the hands of the public are semi-automatic, but it’s good to see the use of scary words to build suspense as is typical of representations made without evidence.
Ha ha…enjoyed Braveheart as a student…
I just don’t get it..
Censoring “lewd,” “vulgar,” “indecent,” or “plainly offensive” (talk about vague) speech is no more constitutional than censoring any other speech regardless of what the courts have found. If government can tell you what you can and can’t say.. then they control you and the Constitution is just a worthless piece of paper.
As others have said today, requiring school uniforms would be a good solution to the legible-clothing problem. Plus, uniforms are known to promote good discipline and an environment conducive to learning.
Cheaper, too.
Yes, definitely cheaper than defending First Amendment lawsuits.
“As others have said today, requiring school uniforms would be a good solution to the legible-clothing problem.”
Playing devil’s advocate: if barring particular T-short slogans is regarded as an infringement of free speech, might requiring a particular uniform not be regarded as compulsory speech?
It could if the uniforms carried a message.* But generally school uniforms don’t have any writing on them.
*That was the basis of Wooley v. Maynard (1977), where the Supreme Court said the state of New Hampshire couldn’t force drivers to display “Live Free or Die” on their license plates.
“Playing devil’s advocate: if barring particular T-short slogans is regarded as an infringement of free speech, might requiring a particular uniform not be regarded as compulsory speech?”
Not compulsory, but simply eliminating free speech.
Uniforms? Absolutely!
Nothing says do what you’re told and do your homework like a uniform; nothing says dawdle or rebel like the absence of a uniform.
Catholic School Uniforms, Of Course!
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School uniforms in England
School uniforms in England are worn in over 90% of primary and secondary schools in England.[1] Parents are required to purchase the uniform which in 2015 averaged roughly £212.88 per child.[2]
– Wiki
School uniforms are used to discriminate against those who cannot afford them. They are not particularly inexpensive as there is usually a single, monopoly supplier with the knowledge that the students are obligated to buy solely from them.
Uniform school clothing is a hallmark of totalitarian governments, to de-individualize the citizens and emphasize their obedience to authority.
In this case it is not clear if the shirt is a copyrighted version sold by the Turning Point child grooming company in the particular font and spacing or if it is simply an off-the-shelf one. If it’s the former, that is political advertising and is as protected as wearing a NAMBLA shirt to a school.
Wow A liberal schools, it’s administration and teachers officially come out against Freedom!
So much misunderstanding. Men are created equal; men are distinctly different and unequal after creation. Freedom is for men who are out of school; students are anything but free.
Items like this prove public educators really don’t know much about the subject matter they are paid to teach, at least when it comes to Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Civics.
But they are experts on repression, censorship and LGTQ issues. Though they still seem to struggle with pronouns.
That’s not education, that’s psychoanalysis.
“Department of Culture and Belonging” That title could come right out of George Orwell. Creepy.
It justifies the need for the “Department of Imaginary Problems.”
It justifies extirpation.
The worlds get dumb and dumber every day.
When it comes to libs YES
NSPM-7 will take care of all the nasty libs, vile leftists, vicious Democrats and other designated domestic terrorists’ groups. YES.
One must find the good in everything, dusty .. .
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pBAh5dLHn0I
Repeal all amendments after the original 10.
Dorothy might have rephrased her comment to Toto: “Is there a Kansas, anymore, Toto?”