This is a lawsuit praying to happen (wink!)

The ACLU should be all over this.

Oh absolutely and the dumb assess at the school district are going to lose. But you cannot imagine the kind of bullshit that goes on around here in regards to Native kids and families. We have a whole lot of Christians who want to save them. Some of these people are downright scary.

Good catch Hollede.

aww yes small rural Anytown, USA still strictly adhering to the archaic rules of the 1950's.

U.S. Department of Education has said before that students can express their religion freely at school.

Im pretty sure that this kids case falls into the area of expressing his religion.

This actually is more likely in violation of the Equal Protection clause. Unfortunately, there's a good chance that a court would NOT see a violation of the Free Exercise Clause here.   Before a 1990 case, the state would have had to have a compelling state interest to impose this kind of burden on religious practices, but recent supreme court opinions have watered that down. Now, as long as the law is generally applicable and doesn't target any particular religious group or practice, it will very likely pass constitutional muster.

Nevertheless, I think a much stronger argument can be made that this constitutes a denial of equal protection--i.e., violating the 14th Amendment. I can't think of any serious reason to prohibit long hair for boys but not girls. And, after the VMI case (U.S. v. Virginia), when the government discriminate on the basis of gender, it must have "an exceedingly persuasive justification." More specifically, the state must show that such discrimination serves "important governmental objectives" and that the discriminatory means employed are "substantially related to the achievement of those objectives." I would love to hear the attorneys for the state defending this policy with a straight face.

no they know all about them and just don't care. Not quite as bad the old Indian schools where they beat the kids if they dared to speak their native language, but not that far from going down that path again...

If the poor kid had just sculpted his hair in the shape of a cross, he probably couldn't have gotten away with it.

I would side with the school in that case. Honor killings may be mandated by somebody's religion, but should be prosecuted as murder in this country.

I recommend Americans United for Separation of Church and State for those interested in this general topic.  http://www.au.org/site/PageServer  The organization joins in law suits to keep government honest.

It still blows my mind as to how crazy this world can be sometime. I mean really, hair? And on top of the fact that it's a siginificant part of religious observation as well. Glad it's gotten media coverage, however; it's a lawsuit waiting to happen and a lawsuit the school district will lose.