The “Candy Cane” case, as it has come to be known, began in 2001. It involves several students in the Plano Independent School District outside Dallas and includes a student who, as a third grader, was barred from giving candy cane pens with a religious message to his classmates at the class “winter” party. It also deals with a class that was prohibited from writing “Merry Christmas” on the holiday cards it was sending to American troops overseas.
But now, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that the two principals can be held liable for engaging in religious speech discrimination.
Kelly Shackelford”This is just a big win for the First Amendment and for millions of students nationwide,” comments Kelly Shackelford, president of the Liberty Institute, the firm representing a number of students and their parents in the case.”
Big win for the First Amendment: Principals wrong in ‘Candy Cane’ case