Lynchburg, Va. - Oral arguments will be held in U.S. district court in
Lynchburg tomorrow at 11 am. over whether or not to grant summary judgment
to the defendants in the "Rush Limbaugh" case. All of the defendants
are teachers or officials in Bedford County's school district.
Rutherford Institute affiliate attorney John Pyle will represent Jason Gardner,
a fourth-grade student at Montvale Elementary School who had Rush Limbaugh's
The Way Things Out To Be taken away when he attempted to read it during
a free-reading period.
Montvale teachers also told Jason to remove an Oliver North bumper sticker
from his book bag and required him to remove a pin which opposed the Clinton/Gore
ticket in order to receive a better evaluation on an assignment. In addition,
they refused to let him read the "Limbaugh Letter," Rush Limbaugh's
monthly newsletter, during recreational reading time.
"We are confident that the judge will recognize the serious free speech
issues involved in this case and refuse to grant summary judgment to the
defendants," said David Melton, staff counsel for The Rutherford Institute.
"Whenever teachers attempt to use their position of authority to stifle
the free speech rights of their students it is a serious matter. We hope
that the judge will send a strong message to Montvale Elementary that anti-free
speech activities will not be tolerated."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties
organization.
-30-
P.O. Box 7482, Charlottesville, VA, 22906-7482
Phone(804) 978-3888 Facsimile (804) 978-1799
E-mail: [email protected]