Great news! Two Texas brothers just defeated one of the dumbest attacks on #ReligiousFreedom you will find: Their school banned them from all sports and clubs unless they cut sacred braids they’ve kept as a religious vow since birth. bit.ly/2VzqJHB 1/ 
In Cesar’s infancy, his parents made a religious vow never to cut a lock of his hair if he was healed from meningitis. He was healed, and he and his brother have kept the vow ever since. This kind of “promesa” has deep roots among Mexican Catholics. 2/
From K-6th grade, the Mathis TX school district let the boys keep their hair without any problems. But in 7th grade (2017) the district barred them from all interscholastic competition. Cesar was banned from football; Diego was taken off the Science Team. 3/
The school says long hair violates a “grooming” rule. But it offers no reason for the rule other than “it’s just been a community standard, the way...it’s always been.” Meanwhile, other Texas schools--and even prisons--allow religious long hair: bit.ly/2S6ivon 4/
In Sept 2019, a federal court ruled that forcing the boys to cut their braids would violate their religious freedom. fxn.ws/3eWzEe0. Obviously. The school should have quit then. But no--it kept digging. 5/
The school appealed, claiming that the court has “created a bastion of anarchy that will imminently devastate education.” (Yes, the school’s legal brief really said that.) 6/
While making this argument with a straight face--and saying these devout boys are too unkempt to represent the school--this is the school’s mascot: 7/
On appeal, the school didn’t try to defend its policy. Instead, it tried to get off on a technicality, saying the boys needed to give the school advance notice of their lawsuit by certified mail, rather than by fax. (Yes, that was the ONLY argument the school made on appeal) 8/
Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit rejected that argument, saying that Cesar didn’t need to provide further notice. Here's the opinion: s3.amazonaws.com/becketnewsite/… 9/
Although the court ruled Diego should have provided additional notice, it said that is “of little practical consequence,” because once the policy is struck down as to Cesar, Diego will “enjoy the benefits from that ruling” too. 10/
Now the ball is in the school district’s court. Will the Mathis ISD (mathisisd.org/index.aspx) keep fighting this foolish fight? Or will it do the right thing and respect these boys’ #ReligiousFreedom? 11/
Public schools should respect religious diversity. And these boys should be commended, not punished, for faithfully keeping a religious vow for over 15 years. /fin
Kudos to Jamie Aycock, Kenneth Young, and Kelsee Foote @Kirkland_Ellis and Texas attorney Frank Gonzales for taking on this case. @calebparke @FoxNews
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