Students sue Michigan school district for banning 'Let's Go Brandon' sweatshirts

Two Michigan students are suing their school district for not letting them wear sweatshirts to class bearing the political slogan "Let's Go Brandon" — a popular euphemism for a profane curse toward President Joe Biden.

The middle schoolers argue they have a right to protest the president of the United States. The school district maintains the sweatshirts are vulgar and it has a right to prohibit such material.

Sounds like BS, counter the students, their mom and their lawyers.

“Criticism of the president is core political speech protected by the First Amendment,” attorney Conor Fitzpatrick said in a statement Tuesday. “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.”

Fitzpatrick, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids against the Tri County Area Schools on behalf of two brothers and their mother who argue the students’ constitutional rights have been violated. The school district is in western Michigan, about 30 miles north of Grand Rapids.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that last year, two brothers wore “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts to Tri County Middle School in Howard City, but an assistant principal and a teacher ordered the students to remove the shirts. According to the lawsuit, the assistant principal told one of the boys that “his sweatshirt was equivalent to the F-word.”

'Let's Go Brandon' originated at NASCAR race

The lawsuit notes that the slogan “Let’s Go Brandon” originated at an October 2021 NASCAR race in Talladega, Alabama. Driver Brandon Brown won the race and was being interviewed live when the crowd started chanting “F--- Joe Biden.” The TV interviewer, dealing with the awkward on-air moment, said the fans were shouting “Let’s go, Brandon!”

The slogan went viral and has since become a popular form of political commentary, appearing on T-shirts and bumper stickers and is chanted at right-leaning rallies, the lawsuit says. Even members of Congress have used the phrase during speeches on the House floor, the suit states, yet no one has been censored or punished.

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“The slogan 'Let’s Go Brandon' conveys the same opposition to President Biden, sanitized to express the sentiment without using profanity or vulgarity,” the lawsuit states, adding the slogan is not “lewd, profane, indecent, vulgar or obscene.”

The school district disagrees.

School district defends slogan ban: It aims to 'ridicule president'

In late May 2022, following the sweatshirt incidents, lawyers wrote the school district a letter and threatened litigation if the ban was not dropped.

The district stuck to its prohibition.

In a June 9, 2022, letter, an attorney for the Tri County Area Schools explained why “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts aren't allowed, noting the district “prohibits clothing or styles of expression that are vulgar or profane.”

“The commonly known meaning of the slogan 'Let’s Go Brandon' is intended to ridicule the president with profanity. At least one of the students … has acknowledged knowing what this slogan means, and a simple Google search confirms the slogan means “F--- Joe Biden,” Clark Hill attorney Kara T. Rozin wrote in the letter, noting the slogan “even comes with its own Wikipedia page which unequivocally confirms the slogan’s vulgar meaning.”

Rozin further argued that the district “does not prohibit students from the right to express their political views or from wearing clothing with political slogans.”

“However,” the lawyer added, the student codes on conduct and attire prohibit “language or clothing containing language that is offensive, vulgar or profane. “

“'Let’s Go Brandon' is a transparent code for using profanity against the president," the letter said. "The district would similarly prohibit other clothing that has the intent to use profane language against another individual as this would be contrary to the district’s educational mission,” Rozin wrote in the letter, which she closed by stating: “Be advised that the district is prepared to vigorously defend against any such threatened litigation and will diligently pursue with equal vigor all legal recourses against frivolous litigation.”

Ten months later, a lawsuit was filed.

'Take that sweatshirt off'

The lawsuit involves two brothers identified only as D.A., who is in seventh grade; and X.A., who is now a high school freshman. According to their lawsuit, here is what drove them to sue:

In February 2022, D.A. wore his “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirt to Tri County Middle School when the assistant principal stopped him in a hallway and instructed him to remove the shirt, telling him it was "equivalent to the F-word."

D.A. complied.

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A few weeks later, D.A. wore the sweatshirt again to school, but a teacher stopped him in a hallway and instructed him to remove it, allegedly threatening punishment if he didn't comply.

“Take that sweatshirt off," the teacher allegedly told him. "I’ve told you before and won’t tell you again.”

D.A. asked why.

The teacher replied the sweatshirt was “not permitted.” So he removed it, fearing punishment.

Big brother sports the swag

Three months after D.A. struck out with his sweatshirt, his older brother X.A. went to school in his "Let's Go Brandon" sweatshirt. It didn't go well, either.

On May 26, 2022, the assistant principal had X.A. summoned to his office, where he ordered him to remove the sweatshirt, allegedly telling him "the school does not allow students to wear clothing with political speech."

X.A. complied, but the brothers' lawyers are now crying foul, alleging the school district in fact allows political speech by letting students wear gay pride and LGBTQ T-shirts to school.

“X.A.’s 'Let’s Go Brandon' sweatshirt did not disrupt class, cause a disturbance among students or invade the rights of others,” the lawsuit states.

In a statement provided to the Free Press, the boys' mother — whose identity is being protected by the lawyers — expressed frustration with the school district.

"Instead of allowing my sons to express their beliefs to their classmates, school officials punished them. Instead of seeing political sweatshirts as a potential conversation starter between students, officials saw it as an opportunity to discriminate against opinions they didn’t like," the mother said, adding:

"I am proud of my sons for standing up for their First Amendment rights and the rights of students everywhere."

What does the U.S. Supreme Court say?

Lawyers for the brothers argue the students are protected by the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines schools, in which the high court upheld public students’ First Amendment right to wear black armbands to school protesting the Vietnam War. In that case, the Supreme Court stressed that students disagreeing with one another is not only “an inevitable part of the process of attending school; it is also an important part of the educational process.”

"It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate," the court famously said.

The school district’s lawyer conceded that the Supreme Court has weighed in on this issue, but argues there is “longstanding history" — post Tinker — of courts allowing districts to prohibit vulgar and/or profane language at school "even absent a showing of a substantial disruption to the educational environment.” The school lawyer cited a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the high court held that a school district could prohibit speech or styles of expression related to, among other things, vulgarity or profanity, without violating a student's First Amendment rights. She also cited numerous court cases in which courts have upheld a school district’s decision to prohibit certain clothing, including:

• In Ohio, a high school student was prohibited from wearing Marilyn Manson T-shirts to school in 1997 based on the band’s promotion of “destructive conduct and demoralizing values that are contrary to the educational mission of the school.” The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the school’s decision in 2001.

• In Virginia, a middle school student was suspended for one day for wearing a shirt that said “Drugssuck!” The student sued, though a district court upheld the suspension in 1992.

• In Massachusetts, students in 1994 challenged a school district’s prohibition of two T-shirts: one stating “See Dick Drink. See Dick Drive. See Dick Die. Don't be a Dick,” and the other: “CoedNaked Band: Do It To the Rhythm.” A federal court held that school officials could regulate the speech.

The lawyers in the western Michigan case argue the case reeks of "political favoritism" by the school district, and that students' First Amendment rights are being trampled in the process.

“A public school district cannot censor speech just because it might cause someone to think about a swear word,” Fitzpatrick argues.

The lawsuit, which is filed on behalf of K-12 students in the Tri County School District, seeks a court order blocking the school district’s ban on “Let’s Go Brandon” apparel and a provision of its dress code banning students from wearing clothing which “calls undue attention” to the student.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression was founded in 1999 to advocate for free speech on college campuses, a mission that has since broadened. While conservatives in recent years have argued that their voices are suppressed in academic settings, the organization considers itself nonpartisan, and its legislative director recently criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' efforts to restrict curriculum.

“These students should not only be allowed to express their political beliefs, but should be encouraged to do so,” said Harrison Rosenthal, another attorney working on the case. “America’s students must be free to exercise their constitutional rights, not just learn about them.”

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan school district sued for ban of 'Let's go Brandon' hoodies