FEDERAL COURT SETS ORAL ARGUMENTS IN BURLESON CASE

NEW ORLEANS – The Fifth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals has set February 4, 2009, as the day it will hear oral arguments from both sides in the case of the Burleson, Texas, school board’s ban on Confederate Symbols.

The case centers on a suit filed by the SLRC in 2006 on behalf of two female Burleson High School students who were suspended for bringing to school Confederate flag purses which they had received as Christmas presents. The sister of one of the plaintiffs subsequently joined the suit.

A lower court issued a summary judgment in favor of the defendants in April of this year. The SLRC immediately appealed on grounds that, among other factors, the original court refused the SLRC’s request to admit crucial documentary evidence, including an e-mail from the then principal of the school to faculty and staff, instructing them to claim that Confederate symbols had previously caused disruption on campus.

“This is a perfect case to take to the Fifth Circuit,” SLRC Chief Trial Counsel Kirk Lyons told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when the appeal was filed. “They’ve never done a Confederate flag case in this circuit.”