Remember the California students who were forced by their school to remove their American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo?  According to the Associated Press, three of them and their parents filed a lawsuit against the Morgan Hill Unified School District, the principal and assistant principal this week.

The three were among a group of teenage boys who were told by a school administrator that they had to remove their patriotic clothing or leave the school because other students were wearing clothing depicting the colors of the Mexican flag and other attire related to Cinco de Mayo.  The students were told they could wear the shirts any other day but May 5th.

The attorney for the students, William J.Becker Jr., said state law explicitly grants students the right to exercise freedom of speech by wearing "buttons, badges and other insignia" and prohibits public schools from interfering with their speech rights unless a "clear and present danger" exists. 

"The U.S. Supreme Court has held for decades that students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gates," said Becker.  "Students who wish to show their pride for another nation's heritage should not have their speech protected more than those who celebrate America's."

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

This story begs the question:  Would these school officials force a student wearing a Mexican flag t-shirt to remove it on a day like Memorial Day or any other day in which America is being honored?