(CN) - The 9th Circuit has agreed to rehear the free-speech case of a man ousted from two Santa Cruz City Council meetings after he gave a Nazi salute to the presiding officer.
The San Francisco-based court will reconsider its 2-1 panel decision last November that Robert Norse's salute was "clearly disruptive."
"The salute was obviously intended as a criticism or condemnation of the ruling," Judge Mary Schroeder wrote in dismissing Norse's First Amendment claims against the city, its mayor and city council members.
In dissent, Judge Wallace Tashima said there was "no way" that a "fleeting, silent Nazi salute" could be considered disruptive.
A majority of 9th Circuit judges voted to rehear the case en banc.
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