Florida student wins right to display pro-Trump elephant on pick-up truck at school in First Amendment case
VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA: A Florida student named Tyler Maxwell, 18, was banned from his school parking lot after bringing in a large elephant statue in his pickup truck with the word 'Trump' emblazoned on the side. After claiming in court that his First Amendment right to free speech had been violated, the student has since been allowed to park his truck in the same parking lot, as well as display his elephant, but Maxwell's attorney is pushing for the school to publicly declare that Maxwell's First Amendment rights had been violated. Officials at Spruce Creek High School revoked Maxwell's parking pass when he brought the elephant statue, painted a bright red, white and blue, Maxwell immediately took issue with the school's decision, and claimed that his freedom of expression was being violated.
"I wanted to put the elephant on the back of my truck because it was the first time that I was going to be able to vote," Maxwell said, to the Daytona Beach News-Journal. "I support President Donald Trump and I wanted to be able to show that."
The school claimed that the elephant was in direct violation of board policy 805, which relates to political activities on school property and at school events. While political displays are not outright banned at the school, the officials at Spruce Creek High School felt like the large elephant was prominent enough to fall outside other protections. A spokeswoman for the Volusia County school district has explained that the large display, right outside the school, might be interpreted as the school's own political position. "We allow political expression by students in the form of a T-shirt or bumper sticker. But large signage is a different situation," spokeswoman Cindi Lane said, "A passerby could interpret a large sign in a school parking lot to be an endorsement by the school district."
Tyler Maxwell wasn't going to let this stand. "I felt like my First Amendment rights for expressing how I felt about the president were being suppressed, and I wasn't going to just sit there and let them tell me I can't express myself," he said. His case was taken up by attorney Jacob Huebert, who told WESH that "the school doesn't have the right to suppress student's political expression unless the school has a real or substantial basis to believe that the expression would disrupt school activities." He also said, "Courts across the country have held that students are able to engage in political speech, even speech that’s much more provocative than the president’s name on a symbol of the Republican party."
For the moment, the Obama-appointed Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. has granted Maxwell a temporary restraining order, which allows Maxwell to display the elephant in the school's parking lot without fear of recrimination. This will stay in place until November 6, after which there will be another hearing. Maxwell and his attorney Huebert aren't planning on stopping there. "[What we want] is a declaration that this violates first amendment rights so that this school knows it and so that other schools know it," Heubert has said.