A federal judge in the U.S. Western District Court ruled Tuesday that the Shenandoah County School Board’s decision to restore the name Stonewall Jackson High School violated a group of students’ First Amendment rights by compelling them to promote a positive image of the Confederate general. 

In siding with the students, U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski wrote that Jackson’s name “is expressive as a symbol of racial exclusion in public schools.” 

 Judge Urbanski

 

In June 2024, the NAACP Virginia State Conference and five students enrolled in the school division filed a lawsuit alleging the board’s decision to rename the school after the Civil War-era figure violated the U.S. Constitution, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunity Act. The plaintiffs want Confederate names, mascots and other vestiges removed from the school, and to block any future naming after Confederate leaders or references to the Confederacy. 

Urbanski said the board cannot force anyone to express a message and that the students were being compelled to convey a message endorsing Jackson by attending a school renamed for him, wearing “Generals” apparel and being identified as “Stonewall Jackson Generals” during extracurricular activities. 

“By reinstating the name ‘Stonewall Jackson High School’ and thereby compelling students to advance the School Board’s chosen message favoring ‘Stonewall Jackson’ through the conduct of extracurricular activities rendered expressive by that name, the School Board rights, as incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment, against compelled speech,” Urbanski wrote. has violated plaintiffs’ First Amendment 

He granted the students’ summary judgment, denied the School Board’s counter motion and deferred a final judgment on the matter. A trial is set for Dec. 8. 

“The federal district court judge delivered a powerful victory for students, affirming that they cannot be obligated to promote the legacy of Stonewall Jackson — a symbol deeply associated with the Confederacy,” Marja Plater, senior counsel at one of the law firms representing the civil rights group and students, said in a statement Wednesday. “The court’s opinion makes it unmistakably clear: students deserve the freedom to define themselves unencumbered by symbols they do not choose.” 

Li Reed, an attorney with Covington & Burling, which is also representing the plaintiffs, called the decision a “key vindication” of what their clients have argued since the reinstatement of the Confederate name was proposed by the School Board. Students said being forced to constantly espouse pro-slavery, anti-Black messages is a violation of their First Amendment rights. 

 Cozy Bailey

The Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of the NAACP Virginia State Conference, said the ruling “reinforces what we know to be true; those who led the Confederacy should not be honored.” 

On May 10, 2024, the Shenandoah County School Board reversed a 2020 decision by a previous board to rename two schools bearing the names of Confederate leaders Turner Ashby, Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson as part of a nationwide effort to make schools more inclusive and equitable. 

Supporters of the school names’ reversal say the Confederacy represents a heritage of Southerners’ courage against the federal Union and a fight for states’ rights. Civil rights groups and Shenandoah students and families who oppose the renaming view the Confederacy as defenders of slavery and a foundational part of America’s history of racism, and say modern use of Confederate symbols contributes to racial tensions. 

Between the 1950s and 1960s, Shenandoah County officials named public schools after Confederate leaders. 

School Board officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

This story originally appeared on VirgniaMercury.com.