In a 1937 Supreme Court case,

Justice Benjamin Cardozo opined, "Freedom of expression is the matrix,

the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom."

Such should be the logic, some

believe, in the debate that continues to rage over the display of the

Confederate flag. Battered by politically correct sentiments and racist

sensitivities, the Confederate flag has not seen so much action since

the battles of Gettysburg and Antietam. Whether emblazoned on T-shirts,

imprinted on license plates, carried in parades or unfurled from state

flagpoles, this symbol of the Old South has become the newest battleground

over the First Amendment's right to free speech.

On the front lines of this

raging battle are the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). Composed of

men whose ancestors fought on the side of the South during the Civil War,

this group has been denied permission to display its logo which contains

the Confederate battle flag on everything from specialty license plates

to flag markers on graves to civic organization boards at the entrance

to the town limits.

Yet disputes over the Confederate

flag have passed beyond the Mason-Dixon line to become part of a larger

debate over what constitutes free expression and what could be considered

"fighting words." Pointing to highly publicized incidents of

hate crimes and racist violence, many authorities have opted for acts

of censorship in order to avoid conflict.

For example, when confronted

with high school students wearing Confederate flag T-shirts to school,

school officials in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia tried to

silence such free expression through suspensions. In one Virginia case,

two students who wore Confederate flag T-shirts in recognition of Confederate

History Month were suspended for "disrupting the smooth opening of

a school day."

Officials at a Kansas middle

school suspended one student after he sketched a Confederate flag familiar

to him from the Dukes of Hazzard television show on a sheet of paper at

the request of a friend. According to the school's zero tolerance policy,

the Confederate flag is a prohibited symbol of "racial harassment

and intimidation." The student sued and lost in court, and the Supreme

Court refused to hear his case.

Even Confederate graveyards

have come under attack. In Maryland, the Department of Veterans Affairs

(VA) removed the Confederate flag from Point Lookout Cemetery, which is

located on the site of the former Point Lookout prison camp operated by

the United States during the Civil War. Point Lookout is the mass burial

ground for approximately 3,300 Confederate soldiers who died while imprisoned

there. A federal court of appeals rejected an appeal, saying the graveyard's

purpose was to honor the dead "as Americans," not as Confederates.

And in an attempt to avert

racist or sexist sentiments, one Topeka, Kan., city administrator even

went so far as to create a policy prohibiting any "sexually or racially

insensitive" emblems or symbols on an employee's privately owned

vehicle while parked on government property. The policy was apparently

targeted to ban the Confederate battle flag displayed on vehicles.

Fortunately for the sake of

the First Amendment, after years in which politically correct chatter

has sabotaged free speech, the courts are finally beginning to weigh in

on the issue. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently gave a resounding

affirmation for free expression when it ruled in favor of the Virginia

SCV's right to display the Confederate flag on organizational specialty

license plates.

It began in 1999 when the Virginia

legislature approved a specialty license plate for the SCV but censored

the use of the Confederate Battle Flag, which has been part of the organization's

logo since it was founded over 100 years ago. Although the legislature

has permitted dozens of organizations to use their logos on specialty

plates (including trade unions, the National Rifle Association, etc.),

the SCV is the only group it has ever denied the right to display its

logo on a Virginia license plate. In response, the SCV filed a civil rights

lawsuit alleging that the state of Virginia had denied them rights protected

Ruling in favor of the SCV,

the Court of Appeals concluded that "the logo restriction is an instance

of viewpoint discrimination ... and a violation of the First Amendment's

strictures."

For those who view the victory

for the display of the Confederate flag as a defeat for racial tolerance,

it is important to remember that censorship can be a terrible two-edged

sword what is popular today can become unpopular and banned tomorrow.

That's why the First Amendment, in the words of James Madison, was written.

It is there to protect "the minority against the majority."

Thus, although we may not agree

with a particular form of speech, it is vital that we protect the right

of all citizens to speak. As the renowned French philosopher François

Voltaire so aptly put it, "I may disagree with what you have to say,

but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it."

[Constitutional attorney

and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford

Institute and author of "Grasping for the Wind" (Zondervan Publishing

House, May 2001). He can be contacted at [email protected].]