get these nets
Veteran
*news segment of lawsuit filed in June 2024
09/10/25
A federal judge in the U.S. Western District Court opined on Tuesday that Shenandoah County School Board’s decision to restore the moniker of Stonewall Jackson High School violated a group of students’ First Amendment rights, since it compelled them to promote a positive image of the Confederate general.
In siding with the students, U.S. Court Judge Michael F. Urbanski wrote that Jackson’s name “is expressive as a symbol of racial exclusion in public schools.”
In June 2024, the NAACP Virginia State Conference and five students enrolled in the school division filed a lawsuit alleging that the board’s decision to rename the school after the controversial Civil War era figure violated the U.S. Constitution, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunity Act. The plaintiffs want Confederate names, mascots and vestiges removed from the school, and to prevent any future school naming involving Confederate leaders or references to the Confederacy
Urbanski said that the board cannot force anyone to express a message, and that the students were being forced to convey a message endorsing Jackson by their school being renamed after him, and by wearing their school’s “Generals” apparel and being identified as “Stonewall Jackson Generals” during extracurricular activities.
“By reinstating the name “Stonewall Jackson High School” and thereby compelling students to advance the School Board’s chosen message favoring “Stonewall Jackson” through the conduct of extracurricular activities rendered expressive by that name, the School Board has violated plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights, as incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment, against compelled speech,” Urbanski wrote.
Urbanski granted the students’ summary judgement, denied the school board’s counter motion and deferred a final judgment on the matter. A trial has been set for Dec. 8, 2025.
“The federal district court judge delivered a powerful victory for students, affirming that they cannot be obligated to promote the legacy of Stonewall Jackson—a symbol deeply associated with the Confederacy,” Marja Plater, senior counsel at one of the law firms representing the civil rights group and students, said in a statement Wednesday. “The court’s opinion makes it unmistakably clear: students deserve the freedom to define themselves unencumbered by symbols they do not choose.”
Heather Brown, a parent of one of the former students involved in the case, said she was happy with the judge’s decision.
“I’m glad that the judge could see the students point of view, when our own school board doesn’t seem to take the students point of view seriously or doesn’t really care to give it a thought,” Brown said Wednesday afternoon. “I think they … have their own personal agendas they’re trying to accomplish. So I think that was good that someone was able to see through that and take their their feelings and their rights into consideration.”
Li Reed, an attorney with Covington & Burling, which is also representing the plaintiffs, added that the decision is a “key vindication” of what their clients have argued since the reinstatement of the Confederate name was proposed by the school board, which students said amounted to “forcing them to constantly espouse pro-slavery, anti-Black messages is a violation of their First Amendment constitutional rights.”
Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of the NAACP Virginia State Conference, said the judge’s ruling “reinforces what we know to be true; those who led the Confederacy should not be honored.”
09/10/25
Federal judge says restoring Stonewall Jackson name at Shenandoah school violates students’ rights
A federal judge in the U.S. Western District Court opined on Tuesday that Shenandoah County School Board’s decision to restore the moniker of Stonewall Jackson High School violated a group of students’ First Amendment rights, since it compelled them to promote a positive image of the Confederate general.
In siding with the students, U.S. Court Judge Michael F. Urbanski wrote that Jackson’s name “is expressive as a symbol of racial exclusion in public schools.”
In June 2024, the NAACP Virginia State Conference and five students enrolled in the school division filed a lawsuit alleging that the board’s decision to rename the school after the controversial Civil War era figure violated the U.S. Constitution, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunity Act. The plaintiffs want Confederate names, mascots and vestiges removed from the school, and to prevent any future school naming involving Confederate leaders or references to the Confederacy
Urbanski said that the board cannot force anyone to express a message, and that the students were being forced to convey a message endorsing Jackson by their school being renamed after him, and by wearing their school’s “Generals” apparel and being identified as “Stonewall Jackson Generals” during extracurricular activities.
“By reinstating the name “Stonewall Jackson High School” and thereby compelling students to advance the School Board’s chosen message favoring “Stonewall Jackson” through the conduct of extracurricular activities rendered expressive by that name, the School Board has violated plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights, as incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment, against compelled speech,” Urbanski wrote.
Urbanski granted the students’ summary judgement, denied the school board’s counter motion and deferred a final judgment on the matter. A trial has been set for Dec. 8, 2025.
“The federal district court judge delivered a powerful victory for students, affirming that they cannot be obligated to promote the legacy of Stonewall Jackson—a symbol deeply associated with the Confederacy,” Marja Plater, senior counsel at one of the law firms representing the civil rights group and students, said in a statement Wednesday. “The court’s opinion makes it unmistakably clear: students deserve the freedom to define themselves unencumbered by symbols they do not choose.”
Heather Brown, a parent of one of the former students involved in the case, said she was happy with the judge’s decision.
“I’m glad that the judge could see the students point of view, when our own school board doesn’t seem to take the students point of view seriously or doesn’t really care to give it a thought,” Brown said Wednesday afternoon. “I think they … have their own personal agendas they’re trying to accomplish. So I think that was good that someone was able to see through that and take their their feelings and their rights into consideration.”
Li Reed, an attorney with Covington & Burling, which is also representing the plaintiffs, added that the decision is a “key vindication” of what their clients have argued since the reinstatement of the Confederate name was proposed by the school board, which students said amounted to “forcing them to constantly espouse pro-slavery, anti-Black messages is a violation of their First Amendment constitutional rights.”
Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of the NAACP Virginia State Conference, said the judge’s ruling “reinforces what we know to be true; those who led the Confederacy should not be honored.”
Every battle, great and small, leave no victories for white supremacists AT ALL!