Two students from Tri County Middle School in Michigan are suing their school district for alleged viewpoint discrimination. The lawsuit alleges that an assistant principal and a teacher told the boys to remove sweatshirts with the phrase “let’s go Brandon” on them, as the apparel violated the school’s dress code and was “equivalent to” an expletive.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech nonprofit, is representing the two students in their complaint. The lawsuit claims that the school district and its employees are “censoring students who try to express support for former President Donald Trump or opposition to President Joe Biden,” and that the dress code’s wording allows for discriminatory enforcement.
The students and FIRE also provided another example of what they call censorship, citing an incident from the school’s field day in 2022 when a student wore a Trump flag as a cape. The assistant principal reportedly told the student to remove the flag but allowed other students to wear pride flags, expressing support for LGBTQ+ rights.
The students are seeking a permanent injunction to stop the district from banning “let’s go Brandon” apparel, as well as compensatory, nominal and punitive damages. The district has not commented on the complaint.
The Supreme Court has never ruled specifically on school dress codes, but it did uphold students’ right to freedom of speech and expression on school grounds in the 1969 case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. The court affirmed that high school students could wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.
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