(This is from FoxNews.com.)

Students Sue School To Wear Confederate T-Shirts

The Confederate flag is leading the charge into battle again, this time in the hallways of some Georgia schools.

Teenagers are expected to be rebels, but Georgia's Seminole County school district said students can't wear T-shirts sporting the controversial Confederate emblem. The school board said the flag?s association with slavery would provoke racial tensions between black and white students.

But nine students have filed suit against the district, arguing that the shirts express Southern pride and that the school board is violating their right of free speech.

"It symbolizes the Confederate States of America. It doesn't symbolize slavery at all, and I don?t see what the problem is with that," said student Bill Shingler. "It is not meant to offend anybody."

Some students, however, are offended by the Confederate emblem, while others fear the shirts will incite trouble in the student body.

"If you leave these shirts in the schools, it's gonna do nothing but cause a war between the black and white students," said student Kenyon White.

The school district said its primary reason for banning the shirts was to maintain safety and order.

"When it comes to maintaining the order in a school environment, in a large group environment, we have to make the decisions that are going to protect the integrity and safety of the school," said Larry Bryant, superintendent of Seminole County Schools.

The plaintiffs claim the school district never objected to clothing bearing the Confederate flag before, and only decided to ban the shirts after the Georgia state legislature changed the state flag to one in which the prominence of the rebel symbol was significantly reduced. They had worn their T-shirts to school for years, they said, until the state flag controversy stigmatized everything associated with the Confederate symbol.

"There wasn?t any problem with the Confederate flag T-shirts in any school district in Georgia. Then the Georgia flag is changed, and it?s top-down censorship," said Gerry Weber of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is backing the students' fight to wear their shirts. "We believe the kids have a First Amendment right to say what they want to say in a non-disruptive way," he said.

The case, currently pending before a federal judge, weighs the interests of public safety against free speech protections, and is one school districts across the country will be watching closely. A ruling is expected by the end of the month.

Fox News? Bret Baier contributed to this report.

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