In late August 2023, middle schooler, Jaiden Rodriguez, was removed from class over a Gadsden flag patch on his backpack.
This was in defiance of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, which has long been deemed fully applicable to publicly funded schools by the U.S. Supreme Court.
But First Amendment rights did not mean this was the end of the story.
Those who care about the ideas of liberty represented by the Gadsden flag must resist its co-option by forces that are completely at odds with what it stands for. The truth about its classical liberal origins must prevail.