SAND LAKE, Mich. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in favor of a Michigan school district regarding a free speech issue involving “Let’s Go Brandon” shirts, a phrase critical of then-President Joe Biden.
The mother of two boys claimed their First Amendment rights were infringed upon when they were asked to remove the shirts at Tri County Middle School in 2022. However, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, disagreed.
Judges John Nalbandian and Karen Nelson Moore opined, “In the school environment, vulgarity takes precedence over politics. Political speech protection doesn’t allow students to use vulgarity at school, even if it is masked in innuendo or euphemism.”
The slogan gained traction in 2021 when a NASCAR event crowd chanted an obscenity at Biden, which a sports reporter misinterpreted as “Let’s Go, Brandon.” This phrase soon gained popularity among Biden’s conservative opponents.
The school maintained that it disallowed vulgar messages, not political ones. Evidence showed students wore apparel with messages like “Make America Great Again” or support for Donald Trump.
Judge John Bush disagreed with the majority opinion and said the wrong legal standard was applied.
“The phrase in question is a euphemism for political criticism without sexual content, graphic imagery, or direct profanity,” one judge explained. “If it suggests an offensive phrase, it does so indirectly — intentionally.”
