The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District ruled a former Washington teacher's decision to bring a "Make America Great Again" hat to a school training was protected speech under the First Amendment.

Court documents showed former Wy'east Middle School science teacher Eric Dodge, an educator of more than 17 years, wore the controversial hat while walking up to an Evergreen Public Schools building to attend a staff-only cultural sensitivity and racial bias training.

Dodge did not wear the hat during the training, but had it set it out where others could see it near his belongings. Some attendees reportedly said they felt "intimidated" and "threatened" by Dodge's decision to have the hat with him, court documents said.

Wy’east Middle School Principal Caroline Garret reportedly approached him about the hat and told him to use better judgment. Dodge then brought the hat to another training before the 2019-2020 school year.

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In court documents, Dodge said he was "verbally attacked" by Garret and other school employees after bringing the hat again, and that retaliation amounted to a violation of his First Amendment rights.

He then filed a lawsuit against Garrett, the school's HR officer Janae Gomes and the school district.

On Dec. 29, the appeals panel ruled in favor of Dodge and decided the school district failed to show evidence of a "tangible disruption" to school operations that would outweigh the teacher's First Amendment rights.

The court noted that since Dodge did not wear the hat around students or in a classroom setting, his decision to wear the hat represented his beliefs alone and could not represent the school system, unlike other court cases.

Dodge's lawyers also argued that there was "no general prohibition on political speech" when Garrett told Dodge he could not bring his MAGA hat to school, even adding that Garrett allowed a Black Lives Matter poster to hang in the library and sported a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker on her car.

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"That some may not like the political message being conveyed is par for the course and cannot itself be a basis for finding disruption of a kind that outweighs the speaker’s First Amendment rights," Judge Danielle J. Forrest wrote in the opinion.

The document concluded by saying "concern over the reaction to controversial or disfavored speech itself does not justify restricting such speech."

In addition to ruling in favor of Dodge's First Amendment rights against Garrett, the appeals panel found that both the Evergreen Public Schools and Gomes did not take any improper administrative action against him.

According to the Associated Press, Michael McFarland, a lawyer representing the school district and Gomes, said his clients are happy with the ruling.

Dodge resigned from his position in 2020.

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who played the titular roles in 1968's "Romeo and Juliet," have sued Paramount Pictures for more than $500 million over a nude scene in the film shot when they were teenagers, new court documents show.

Hussey, then 15 and now 71, and Whiting, then 16 now 72, filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court Friday alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud after the nude scene was included in the film, despite alleged reassurance from Director Franco Zeffirelli nudity would not be shown.

Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, allegedly told the two young actors that they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene and would use camera angles to obscure the nudity, the suit alleges.

According to the suit, the scene was shot on the final days of filming and ignored those previous assurances.

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Whiting, who played Romeo, and Hussey, who played Juliet, said they were filmed in the nude without their knowledge, in violation of California and federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children, the suit says.

The two stars said Zeffirelli told them they must act in the nude "or the Picture would fail," the suit said. He also suggested their careers would be hurt, it added. So, the actors "believed they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded," the suit said.

The scene in question, which comes near the end of the film, briefly showed Whiting's bare buttocks and Hussey's bare breasts.

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"What they were told and what went on were two different things," said Tony Marinozzi, a business manager for both actors, according to Variety. "They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had. Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do? There are no options. There was no #MeToo."

The film was an international sensation at the time and was nominated for four Academy Awards. In the 55 years since its release, it has been widely shown to high school students who study the Shakespeare play.

Hussey and Whiting said they suffered emotional damage and mental anguish for decades and their careers did not reflect the success of the movie, according to the suit.

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"Nude images of minors are unlawful and shouldn’t be exhibited," said Solomon Gresen, the actors’ attorney, Variety reported. "These were very young naive children in the ’60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them. All of a sudden they were famous at a level they never expected, and in addition they were violated in a way they didn’t know how to deal with."

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives of Paramount, but a response was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit was filed under a California law temporarily suspending the statute of limitations for child sex abuse, which has led to a host of new lawsuits and the revival of many others that were previously dismissed.

In 2018, Hussey described the controversial scene as "very taboo" in America but seemed to defend its use in the European-set film as it was "done very tastefully."

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"I think because it was done very tastefully," she told Fox News. "And in Europe, it was very different. In America, it was very taboo. But in Europe a lot of the films had nudity. Nobody really thought much of it. But it was just the fact that I was 16 that got a lot of publicity… The large crew we worked with was whittled down to only the very basic people, a handful of people. It was done later in the day when it wasn’t busy. It was a closed set."

Despite being unclothed, Hussey described being at ease on set.

"If you see it, the reality is these two young kids married against their parents’ wishes and have this one night together and then they die… And it wasn’t really banned in any country… And we shot it at the very end of the film. So by that time… we’ve all become a big family… It wasn’t that big of a deal. And Leonard wasn’t shy at all! In the middle of shooting, I just completely forgot I didn’t have clothes on," she said at the time.

According to the suit, the actors are seeking damages of more than $500 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.