Dec 3, 2021
Young Lydia Booth wore a mask that, in her school administrators' minds, crossed the line. What was this offending message? “Jesus Loves Me.” In Pinola, Mississippi, school officials barred a third-grade girl from expressing her deeply held religious beliefs on her school-mandated mask—even though her classmates were allowed to display their nonreligious views on theirs. When it comes to free speech, authorities can’t pick winners and losers depending on which messages they happen to agree with. The Constitution grants every American the right to free speech—and this applies as much in public schools as it does on public street corners.