PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2018-08-13 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did the Supreme Court Rule in 1943 That No One Can Be Forced to Participate in Patriotic Rituals? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick sparked a national controversy in 2016 by refusing to participate in pre-game renderings of the U.S. national anthem, taking a knee instead to protest police brutality and the oppression of people of color in America. Many of Kaepernick's fellow athletes in the NFL and other sports organizations followed suit, opening themselves up to public criticism for being disrespectful and unpatriotic. They were even attacked by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who repeatedly called on the NFL to suspend or fire them: Other politicians, such as Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, defended the players' right to free speech: Expanding on that defense, a meme shared via social media in late 2017 promoted the claim that a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirmed everyone's legal right under the First Amendment to refuse participation in patriotic rituals such as the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem. When you call for an NFL player to be fired, the argument went, you are calling for the law to be broken: But this argument partakes of a common misconception concerning the First Amendment, namely the idea that it prohibits the abridgment of free speech not just by the government, but also by non-governmental entities such as private sector businesses. As employees of such businesses, National Football League players are subject to contractual obligations that can include limitations on their speech and behavior during the performance of their jobs, with no recourse to First Amendment guarantees. The First Amendment itself makes no mention of free speech protections outside the context of government actions: The above-referenced Supreme Court decision (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, decided on 14 June 1943) held, by a 6-3 vote in favor, that forcing students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public school classrooms constitutes compelled speech and violates the students' First Amendment rights. The decision was actually a reversal of an early ruling (Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 1940) in which the justices upheld a local Pennslyvania school board's right to impose a compulsory flag salute on Jehovah's Witness students who wished to be excused from the ritual on religious grounds. The opinion held that the state's interest in fostering patriotic unity was greater than that in defending individual citizens' freedom of expression. In its 1943 decision overturning Minersville, the court's rejection of that opinion was unambiguous: But the court was also clear in specifying that it is government officials (in this instance school board members) who are proscribed from forcing people to participate in the flag salute or other patriotic ceremonies. No mention was made of such protections' covering employees of private sector businesses. With regard to taking a knee, this means that while students in public school athletics programs may be protected by the First Amendment from disciplinary action by school authorities, professional football players aren't protected from the same punishments by their teams or the NFL. Arizona State University law professor James Weinstein confirmed the point in an interview with KPNX News in Phoenix: The NFL is not bound by the First Amendment. The First Amendment only applies to the government — state, federal, local. It is not illegal, therefore -- as regards the First Amendment or the Supreme Court's 1943 decision, at least -- for the NFL to take disciplinary action against protesting players. That is not to say the court's opinion doesn't inform the public debate over the NFL controversy, however. The justices were firm in upholding the importance of intellectual and spiritual diversity in the face of strident demands for patriotic unanimity, whatever their source: As of mid-August 2018, the enforcement of National Football League rules pertaining to player protests remained on hold pending an announcement by the league and the NFL Players Association of what the official NFL policy for the 2018-19 season would be. At the season's first game, an exhibition match between the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, three players took a knee at the opening bars of The Star-Spangled Banner. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url