PHILADELPHIA — A rural New Jersey school district was wrong to suspend a high school student because he wore a T-shirt with redneck humor, a federal appeals court ruled.
In a 2-1 decision issued Thursday, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the ban by the Warren Hills Regional School District was unconstitutional because there had been no previous problems involving the T-shirt at the school near the Pennsylvania border.
The district adopted an anti-harassment and intimidation policy last year after several months of racial tension at the high school. The policy most notably banned the display of the Confederate flag on school grounds or at school events.
However, the court ruled the district overstepped its bounds when it banned the T-shirt because it contained the word ``redneck.''
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