The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from two Michigan middle school brothers who were banned from wearing sweatshirts bearing the phrase ‘Let’s Go Brandon,’ effectively ending their fight to wear clothing critical of President Joe Biden and raising questions about student speech rights in American schools.
Court Leaves Lower Ruling Intact
The high court offered no explanation Monday for its decision to leave standing an October 2025 ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. That lower court determined the school acted reasonably in prohibiting the sweatshirts based on their vulgar underlying meaning. The appeals court ruled 2-1 that school administrators could categorically ban the clothing despite its political message, finding that requesting students remove the shirts did not violate First or Fourteenth Amendment protections.
Judge John Nalbandian, appointed by President Trump, wrote for the majority that school officials reasonably interpreted the slogan as vulgar speech. His opinion stated plainly that in the schoolhouse, vulgarity trumps politics. The phrase ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ became widely adopted in fall 2021 as a substitute for an expletive directed at Biden after a NASCAR reporter misheard crowd chants during a race interview.
Free Speech Advocates Raise Concerns
The mother of the two boys sued Tri County Middle School in Howard City, Michigan, in 2023 with representation from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The lawsuit argued that school officials violated the students’ constitutional rights when an assistant principal and teacher asked the brothers to remove their sweatshirts, deeming the message equivalent to profanity and in violation of the dress code.
Attorney Conor Fitzpatrick argued at the time that criticism of the president constitutes core political speech protected by the First Amendment. The free speech organization maintained schools cannot selectively permit some political beliefs while censoring others, whether the message involves presidential criticism, campaign stickers, or other political expressions. The school district countered that the ban targeted vulgarity rather than political viewpoint.
Dissenting Voice Warns Of Censorship Risk
Judge John Bush, also a Trump appointee, broke from the majority with a sharp dissent. He warned that allowing schools to censor political speech by relabeling it as vulgarity creates dangerous precedent. Bush argued this approach risks transforming disagreement with political speech into justification for its suppression, something the First Amendment explicitly prohibits. The case emerged from the school located roughly 35 miles north of Grand Rapids, where administrators enforced existing dress code policies against what they viewed as inappropriate messaging regardless of political content.
I HATE CENSORSHIP. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. WE, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, NEED TO CARRY THE BANNER AND CONTINUALLY FIGHT FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND THE SLOGAN “LET’S GO BRANDON” AS VULGAR. ARE WE GOING TO DISALLOW SPEECH CRITICIZING A PUBLIC FIGURE, AND FORCE OURSELVES TO BE QUIET AND COMPLACENT IN THE FACE OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE.
There is nothing vulgar about Let’s Go Brandon ,, It is a political statement about a puppet that was controlled by Obama and the radical communist democrats the supreme court need to intervene and set the record straight and protect our rights for the 1st and 14th amendment rights,, I think those two judges even though appointed by PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP ARE LEANING MORE TOWARDS THE RADICAL LEFT AND DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT GO AGAINST THE DEMOCRATS IDEAS OF FREE SPEECH. Those judges should be fired and replaced with judges that have common sense and understand the first Amendment and 14th amendment rights.
There is nothing vulgar about Let’s Go Brandon ,, It is a political statement about a puppet that was controlled by Obama and the radical communist democrats the President needs to intervene and set the record straight and protect our rights for the 1st and 14th amendment rights,, I think those two judges even though appointed by PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP ARE LEANING MORE TOWARDS THE RADICAL LEFT AND DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT GO AGAINST THE DEMOCRATS IDEAS OF FREE SPEECH. Those judges should be fired and replaced with judges that have common sense and understand the first and 14th amendment rights.
The slogan “Let’s Go Brandon”, was known, and the vulgar slogan it was misinterpreted from was also known, and discussed nationally. I’d be interested in what the boy’s parents say is their interpretation of what that slogan means. Ask them who is Brandon, and they heard about the controversy over the slogan. Also ask if they don’t care if their sons knew the original political meaning of the slogan. Also ask them if they don’t mind if their sons wear vulgar slogans as long as there is deniablity over it’s intended interpretation.