POLITICS: Kids have free speech, even in California

“All lives matter.” 

That should not be a controversial statement, nor should the phrase “any life matters.”

Unfortunately, in our divided nation, some on the left consider “all lives matter” a challenge to the slogan “Black Lives Matter.”

If you say “all lives matter,” you risk offending the PC police.

It’s confusing enough for adults — never mind for 6-year-old children.

Yet a 6-year-old girl at Viejo Elementary School in San Juan Capistrano was disciplined for writing “any life” on a “Black Lives Matter” drawing that she gave to a black classmate in an innocent gesture of solidarity.

That classmate’s mother emailed the school, which allegedly took action against the 6-year-old girl.

The girl’s mother sued the school, claiming that it had violated the child’s First Amendment rights.

District Court Judge David O. Carter — notorious for his left-wing activism — granted the school’s motion to throw out the case, saying that the drawing was not protected by the First Amendment.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit — two judges appointed by Joe Biden, and one by George W. Bush — disagreed.

They ruled unanimously that even young children have First Amendment rights.

Speech can be restricted only if it is disruptive to the school or threatens other students. 

Writing “any life” on a “Black Lives Matter” drawing — made by the student herself — does not qualify as a threat.

This may appear to be a small case, but it goes to the core of free speech.

See also

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·02/26/2026·0

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“All lives matter” is not an inherently offensive phrase. It simply states a moral truth that we all should acknowledge.

In this case, the person who was offended was not the girl’s classmate, but the mother of that classmate.

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An adult brought politics into a friendship among children, and ultimately into the classroom.

We do our kids a great disservice if we encourage them to believe that “all lives matter” is some kind of threat. 

We are also teaching them the wrong lessons if we treat differences of opinion as dangerous.

Words do matter, and we should choose them carefully, for the sake of civility. Yet the fact that someone might take offense does not give her the right to shut down the speech of others.

Had the lower court ruling stood, it might have strengthened the “crybullies” in schools and universities — those students who bully others by claiming victimhood. 

Even the liberal Ninth Circuit has had enough.