Court orders upstate woman to remove Confederate flag or risk custody of multi racial child

[StarfishSaver]

160. The First Amendment is not a primary consideration in child custody cases

The paramount consideration is the best interests of the child, which almost always outweighs any right a parent has to free speech. If that speech is considered to be harmful to the child, custody can be reduced, altered or revoked.

This is not a First Amendment issue and all of the discussion in this thread about it is completely beside the point.

Even if the First Amendment were implicated, that would not be enough, by itself, to prohibit a court from taking a child away based on a parent's speech. That's because, as several people here have noted, no constitutional right is absolute. The state has the power to infringe on someone's constitutional right if there is a "compelling state interests" justifying them doing so. In a child custody case, doing what is best for a child is clearly a compelling interest. If a court deems it is in the best interest of a child not to be raised by a parent who expresses certain views, that would overcome a First Amendment challenge.

This may seem complicated to a non-lawyer but this is black letter law.