Girl pressured by teacher to write Pledge of Allegiance is awarded $90K

Mari Oliver had for years refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at her Texas high school. Then, in her senior year, her teacher gave the class an assignment.

She and the other students would have to write the pledge.

Those who didn’t would get a zero, sociology teacher Benjie Arnold told his class, according to a federal lawsuit Oliver filed against him. Then, he compared people who refused to recite the pledge “to Soviet communists, members of the Islamic faith seeking to impose Sharia law, and those who condone pedophilia,” the lawsuit says.