Michigan school district bans “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts, provoking First Amendment legal challenge from students’ mother

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On behalf of her two minor children, a mother in rural Michigan filed a federal lawsuit against the Tri County Area School District for prohibiting her sons from wearing sweatshirts with the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon,” alleging it violated their First Amendment rights.  

Key Players

The plaintiffs in this case, electing to remain anonymous, are known by their initials. B.A. is the mother of two sons: D.A., a seventh-grade student at Tri County Middle School; and X.A., a freshman at Tri County High School. The family resides in Newaygo County in the western part of the state, north of Grand Rapids.  

Andrew Buikema and Wendy Bradford, named defendants in the lawsuit, are members of the Tri County Area School District staff. Buikema serves as  the assistant principal, and Bradford as a science and language arts teacher, at Tri County Middle School.

Further Details

The phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” gained popularity in October 2021 at a NASCAR race in Talladega, Alabama. During a live television interview with victorious driver Brandon Brown, a crowd began chanting “F*** Joe Biden,” which the interviewer mistakenly believed to be a spirited cheer for Brown, rather than explicit criticism of President Biden. 

“Let’s Go Brandon” has since been used by Republican critics of Biden as a more subtle and less obscene way to express their severe discontent with his administration. Federal lawmakers have even adopted the slogan in speeches on the House floor, in social media posts, and in political campaigns. It has also been printed on bumper stickers and articles of clothing like T-shirts and sweatshirts.

In February 2022, D.A. wore his “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirt to school. He was stopped by Buikema in the hallway and ordered to remove the sweatshirt. Buikema reasoned that the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” was equivalent to the expletive for which it has become an innocuous-sounding substitute. 

A few weeks later, D.A. arrived at school in the same sweatshirt. This time, Bradford stopped and ordered him to remove it. According to the lawsuit, she told D.A., “Take that sweatshirt off. I’ve told you before and won’t tell you again,” threatening punishment if he failed to comply.

On May 26, 2022, X.A. wore his “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirt to school and was pulled from class by Buikema. In the assistant principal’s office, Buikema ordered X.A. to take off the sweatshirt, since the school does not permit students to wear clothing with political speech. Fearing punishment, X.A. removed it.

The school district had another recent incident with students wearing right-wing messaging on their bodies during the middle school Field Day. The lawsuit alleges that at the competition, in June 2022, school district employees ordered students to remove flags with Donald Trump’s campaign logo, but permitted other students to wear LGBTQ+ pride flags.

The Tri County Middle School dress code states that, “Students and parents have the right to determine a student’s dress, except when the school administration determines a student’s dress is in conflict with state policy, is a danger to the students’ health and safety, is obscene, is disruptive to the teaching and/or learning environment by calling undue attention to oneself.”

Punishment for violating the dress code includes students being forced to change out of the “inappropriate clothing,” detention, and in-school or out-of-school suspension.

On May 27, 2022, a lawyer representing D.A. and X.A. sent the school district a cease-and-desist letter, demanding that it amend the dress code to permit students to wear “Let’s Go Brandon” apparel and acknowledge that the slogan does not cause a disruption to learning. They cited the landmark 1969 case Tinker v. Des Moines, in which the Supreme Court ruled that neither students nor teachers “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” and prohibited schools from denying students the right to speech or expression unless there is a “substantial interference with schoolwork or discipline.” In Tinker, the students wore black armbands protesting the Vietnam War.

On June 9, the school district’s legal counsel rejected  D.A. and X.A.’s demands to alter the dress code, upholding their application of school policy to prohibit what they regard as vulgar or profane clothing. The school argued that “‘Let’s Go Brandon’ is a transparent code for using profanity against the President.”

Outcome

Bringing the matter to court

On April 25, 2023, B.A. filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of D.A. and X.A. against the school district, Buikema, and Bradford. B.A. accused the school of a civil rights violation and infringement of the First Amendment, 14th Amendment, Civil Rights Act of 1871, and the Declaratory Judgement Act. They are represented by Conor T.  Fitzpatrick, an attorney from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). 

The students and their mother argued that the Tri County Middle School dress code is far too vague, thereby allowing for “subjective and discriminatory enforcement” of the policy, asserting that the school has a history of punishing students for wearing pro-Trump, anti-Biden clothing, and supporting students wearing pro-LGBTQ+ apparel.

The lawsuit also asserted that the students’ donning of sweatshirts with the slogan “Let’s Go Brandon” has not caused any disruption, disorder, or violation of the rights of other students. 

“The slogan exists as a way to express an anti-Biden message without using profanity,” Fitzpartick stated. “A public school district cannot censor speech just because it might cause someone to think about a swear word.”

In a statement shared by FIRE, B.A. voiced her belief that school staff used her sons’ sweatshirts as an “opportunity to discriminate against opinions they didn’t like.”

As of June 14, 2023, there were no further developments.