'Let's Go Brandon' Sweatshirts Get Two Students in Trouble—but They’re Fighting BackBy Bob Hoge
April 30, 2023
In the Michigan Tri-County Area Schools district, you can wear your gay pride flag to class—just don’t show up in a Trump cape or a “Let’s Go, Brandon” sweatshirt. Two boys found that out the hard way when the assistant principal and a teacher at their school ordered them to take theirs off because they violated the dress code.
It reminds me of a similar story I wrote in November 2022 about Connecticut’s Trinity College:
* Trinity College Pulls Down Students’ Patriotic Flags—While BLM and Trans Ones Fly Free
Now the boys are suing for “viewpoint discrimination” with help from the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Said foundation attorney Conor Fitzpatrick:
Criticism of the president is core political speech protected by the First Amendment.
Whether it’s a Biden sticker, “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirt, or gay pride T-shirt, schools can’t pick and choose which political beliefs students can express.
* * *
They also argue that the statement is not vulgar:
The school district is wrongly relying on a policy that prohibits “profane” clothing to censor this particular message, but FIRE’s lawsuit argues that ordering the students to remove the “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts violates the First Amendment.
“The slogan exists as a way to express an anti-Biden message without using profanity,” explained Fitzpatrick. “A public school district cannot censor speech just because it might cause someone to think about a swear word.”
George Washington University law professor and frequent pundit Jonathan Turley opines that the case has chilling free speech implications and that it shows the continued decline of our education systems (emphasis mine):
What is so troubling is the message being taught here by the district. It is one of arbitrary enforcement and speech intolerance. It is precisely why we are seeing a generation of speech phobic students entering higher education. They have been taught since elementary school that speech is harmful and they do not have to tolerate the opposing views of others. My guess is that it is the teachers, not the students, who are most offended by anti-Biden sentiments.
This is an important free speech case for that reason and FIRE is to be commended for taking up the cause for these middle school students. This was once the work of the ACLU, which has largely abandoned its signature commitment to free speech. FIRE is now filling that void and this is a great case to reinforce free speech rights in our schools.
* * *
Source:
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/04/30/lets-go-brandon-sweatshirts-get-two-students-in-trouble-but-theyre-fighting-back-n739387
