Matthew and Jennifer Booth, the parents of Lydia, a nine-year-old girl in grade three, have filed a lawsuit against a Mississippi school district alleging that Simpson Central School would not allow their daughter to wear her "Jesus Loves Me" facemask. Though she had been wearing it several days without incident, on Oct. 13, 2020, the suit alleges Lydia was told to take off her mask because it violated a school regulation preventing political and religious messages on face masks. The family is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom that argues the school's regulation is not only unconstitutional, but it is not being equally applied to the other students. In its news release, ADF states: Public schools have a duty to respect the free expression of students that the First Amendment guarantees to them. While school administrators face challenges in helping students navigate school life during a pandemic, those officials simply can't suspend the First Amendment or arbitrarily pick and choose the messages that students can or can't express. Other students within the school district […]

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