The ACLU Strikes Back

Here is my interview with Nevada ACLU general counsel Allen Lichtenstein about the Brittany McComb case.

One point emphasized by the Nevada ACLU is that many commentators have distorted the group's role in this incident. The ACLU were not the ones the school turned to in order to edit or censor McComb's speech. The ACLU's involvement in this case came when media called asking for comments on the incident after McComb's microphone was cut off by school officials during her graduation ceremony when she departed from the approved text in her valedictorian address.

In fact, the Nevada ACLU notes that they are currently fighting the school system in another case before the Ninth Circuit over a student who was suspended for wearing T-shirts with a religious message. Still, in the case of Brittany McComb the ACLU is backing the school's decision.

Q: The Rutherford Institute says it is ironic that the ACLU is standing against free speech. Do you see the irony?
A: Not at all. Our position is the one that the law takes and I think it is the correct one. When you are talking about a specific set of circumstances like a graduation ceremony where you have a captive audience and you have a speech given with school approval that is very different than an individual acting on her own. That same speech Brittany McComb gave, if it were in a different context, we would support her right to say that. But she was speaking officially and that is the difference.