California Court of Appeal to Decide Fate of High Student Silenced...

Riverside, CA June 16, 2006 -- On June 16, 2006, the public interest firm of Lively, Ackerman & Cowles (www.LivelyAckerman.com), in conjunction with the firm of Robinson & Liebaert, filed an emergency appeal with the California Fourth District Court of Appeal today.

The firms represent the interest of Jurupa Valley High School student Joshua Denhalter in a suit that was filed recently. The First Amendment suit alleges that the public high school has interfered with his constitutional right to speak out on the issue of immigration. The case has garnered significant national media attention in the last two weeks. Case Number RIC450811 was filed in Riverside County Superior Court.

The appeal requests the issuance of an immediate order allowing Denhalter to express himself freely on the issue of illegal immigration before the school year ends and before he begins boot camp with the US Marine Corps on June 26, 2006. Denhalter'ss attorneys expect a ruling early next week since the school year ends on June 21, 2006. This emergency appeals follows the Superior Court'ss refusal to hear Denhalter'ss demand for relief on June 14, 2006.

By way of his lawsuit, Mr. Denhalter alleges that on March 27, 2006, dozens of high school students, mostly of Mexican-American descent, illegally walked out of school in protest of legislation that was being proposed by the US Congress (HR4437) concerning immigration.

Instead of walking out of school and being truant, Denhalter chose to organize a legitimate and lawful counter-protest/assembly during the lunch hour on or about March 30, 2006. The peaceable assembly was to take place across from the school on a public sidewalk.

The peaceable assembly would not have disrupted school activities because Jurupa Valley High School has an 's8220;open lunch's8221; period. This means that students are free to come and go during this time.

On March 30, 2006, Denhalter began handing out flyers for his event. Around 7:30 am, he was approached by school officials and told that he could not hand out flyers advertising his First Amendment protected activities. He refused to give up his right to pass out flyers. As a result of his refusal to give up his constitutional rights, Denhalter was suspended for 's8220;handing out flyers (before school) advocating the disruption of school activities.'s8221;

Furthermore, between March 27 and March 30, 2006, the school allowed MECHA to sponsor an on-campus rally in opposition to HR4437. Denhalter asked for permission to sponsor a similar counter-rally on campus but was flatly denied by the school district'ss board.

MECHA is a self-avowed race-based organization openly dedicated to having Mexico take back California and other United States Southwestern states through conquest or other means. See http://www.panam.edu/orgs/MEChA/nt_const.html. It is Denhalter'ss position that MECHA'ss message is far more offensive than anything he could have expressed.

Finally, just the week before filing of this complaint, on May 25, 2006, the school prohibited Denhalter from wearing a 's8220;Save Our State's8221; T-shirt by telling him that he needed to turn the shirt inside out and not ever wear it again.

According to lead attorney Richard D. Ackerman, 's8220;We hope the Court of Appeal will see the clear merits of this case and issue immediate relief to vindicate Mr. Denhalter. The school district should not be rewarded for giving preference to the racist views of MECHA over those of Josh Denhalter.

Donations are being taken for Denhalter'ss legal costs through the donation link at www.profamilylawcenter.com. Those interested in helping this young man can designate the money to be used for the Josh Denhalter First Amendment Fund. Tax deductible donations will only be used to assist in his and related First Amendment cases. Mr. Denhalter is going to boot camp five days after graduating from Jurupa Valley High School and cannot afford the costs of this litigation.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

This article has been robotically scanned and tagged by Prnewsnow with the following search tags. No human manipulation of these tags take place.
| Josefa | Los Angeles | |

4905 readers online...

, Local News

Subscribe in a reader