By TONY COOMBES

Nine years ago, the Plano (Texas) Independent School District, made a series of choices that put religion and the first amendment rights in jeopardy.

A principal and a teacher stopped an eight-year-old boy, Jonathan Morgan, from handing out candy canes with a Christian story written on them during his "winter" party.

Later, they stopped a first grade girl from handing out pencils after school because they had "Jesus is the reason for the season" written on them.

Near Christmas time, an entire classroom was prohibited from writing "Merry Christmas" on greeting cards they were writing for our troops who were over in Iraq.

This kicked off the "candy cane" case, Morgan et al. v Plano, Texas Independent School District.

Certain government officials argued that the First Amendment did not apply to elementary students because they are too young.

Liberty Institute president, Kelly Shackelford, said "That would literally have stripped away the First Amendment rights of 42 million U.S. school children overnight."

On Wednesday, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals finally handed down a decision on the case. The court ruled that the school district violated the Constitution by the action they took against Jonathan Morgan. It also ruled that action taken against the little girl, and the decision to ban the class from writing "Merry Christmas" also suffered discrimination.

Sources: http://www.onenewsnow.com & http://www.2dialog.com/libertyinstitute/main.php/micro_sites/showpage?id=163