Tweet
A freedom of expression defense didn’t gain any yards with a federal appeals court, which ruled that a fourth-grader’s offensive behavior — not his Green Bay Packers jersey — was reason enough to sideline him from a class field trip.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a Minnesota boy was not deprived of his freedom of expression when he was barred from a 1999 school field trip when he insisted on wearing a Brett Favre jersey to visit the Minnesota Vikings headquarters.
Rocky Sonkowsky and father, Roy, filed suit, but the school’s decision was upheld by a U.S. District Court ruling. The Sonkowskys appealed, but a 3-member appeals court backed the lower court’s decision.
The class from New Prague Intermediate School, 40 miles west of Minneapolis, won a statewide geography contest. The prize: a trip to the Vikings facility in Eden Prairie and a pizza party with then-Vikings’ star receiver Cris Carter.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a Minnesota boy was not deprived of his freedom of expression when he was barred from a 1999 school field trip when he insisted on wearing a Brett Favre jersey to visit the Minnesota Vikings headquarters.
Rocky Sonkowsky and father, Roy, filed suit, but the school’s decision was upheld by a U.S. District Court ruling. The Sonkowskys appealed, but a 3-member appeals court backed the lower court’s decision.
The class from New Prague Intermediate School, 40 miles west of Minneapolis, won a statewide geography contest. The prize: a trip to the Vikings facility in Eden Prairie and a pizza party with then-Vikings’ star receiver Cris Carter.
