The Patriot Post® · The 'Heckler's Veto'

On Cinco de Mayo 2010, a number of students at a California school came to class wearing American flag apparel. Citing a history of conflict between Anglo and Latino students, however, the school cracked down on the Anglos, demanding that they cover up the flags or go home. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court ruled unanimously that the school did not violate students’ free speech rights. The ruling is a “classic ‘heckler’s veto,’” says legal blogger Eugene Volokh, “because behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated. The school taught its students a simple lesson: If you dislike speech and want it suppressed, then you can get what you want by threatening violence against the speakers.”