MADISON, Wis. – The Galesville School Board may have gotten itself into s pickle for removing a gay pride flag from the G-E-T High School library. Howard Schweber, a constitutional law expert at the University of Wisconsin, faulted the Board’s decision as a First Amendment violation. There is no constitutional requirement to ban an expression of one opinion just nobody has presented a counter-opinion, Schweber said in a WKBT interview. In short, any and all opinions can be expressed under the First Amendment. No limit on free expression by government are allowed constitutionally, including public school boards, he said. Schweber cited a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court opinion: “When Congress established a National Endowment for Democracy to encourage other countries to adopt democratic principles, it was not constitutionally required to fund a program to encourage competing lines of political philosophy such as communism and fascism.” In the G-E-T case, the School Board erred in defending its ban as an issue of fairness, Schweber sid. There is no constitutional requirement on the School Board to assure that all expressions be present in the schools – although, to be sure, the lack of opposing view cannot be a rationale for a ban.
Schweber. A political theorist at the UW-Madison law school. His scholarship includes books on the First Amendment, from Peter Lang Press, and American legal development in the 1800s, from Cambridge University Press.