Students reprimanded for singing national anthem
Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 7/22/2008 10:40:00 AM
Launch into an a cappella version of the Star Spangled Banner in the California State Capitol and a group could find themselves facing Capitol Security and officers of the California Highway Patrol. And that is what happened, says Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, when a group of students touring the capitol, as part of the "City on a Hill" education program, spontaneously began to sing the national anthem.
"Upon hearing the students, a security guard there silenced them and said that they could not sing the national anthem unless they had a special permit to do so," explains Dacus. "This was an egregious abuse of discretion and a violation of the First Amendment rights of these students to be able to express patriotism and their love for their country."
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Dacus adds the singing was not planned in advance and was not, in any sense of the word, a protest. "These students were not being disruptive in any way of anything that was taking place. There was no other event going on. There was no function of government that was being interrupted," he contends.
He argues that "[s]uch spontaneous expression of love for...country should never, ever be stifled by government when it's in no way creating a disturbance of any kind...."
Pacific Justice Institute sent a letter to the Chief Sergeant at Arms for the Capitol informing him that citizens have a First Amendment right to express themselves in the capitol rotunda as long as they are not being disruptive, and that any future attempt to interfere with that right will result in appropriate legal action.
