FOR 200 days, India Landry remained seated in protest during the Pledge of Allegiance at her Texas high school. Then, last week, the school’s principal informed her that she would have to stand for the pledge or be forced to leave school. She chose the latter.Ms. Landry, who says she was protesting police violence against black Americans, is now back in class after the school reversed its position following a storm of media attention. A filed suit against her principal and the school district, arguing that being forced to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance infringes on her free expression under the First Amendment. She’s right. The Supreme Court addressed almost exactly this question in a 1943 decision, holding that students who were Jehovah’s Witnesses could not be compelled to salute the flag. “Freedom to disagree is not limited to things that do not matter much,” Justice Robert Jackson wrote then, affirming the American principle that real patriotism requires not enforced conformity but embrace of difference.WP