The College Fix

Can ban apparel ‘reasonably interpreted as profane’

A federal judge has sided with a Michigan school district in that it was right to order a student to remove a hoodie with the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon!” on it.

“Le’s Go Brandon” (in)famously came about in October of 2022 after NASCAR driver Brandon Brown won his first race. Many in the crowd, however, were chanting “F*** Joe Biden!” while an NBC reporter was interviewing Brown.

But the reporter told Brown “You can hear the chants from the crowd, ‘Let’s go, Brandon!’”

Since then, the phrase has become synonymous with “F*** Joe Biden.”

According to Jonathan Turley’s blog, plaintiff “D.A.,” a student at Tri County Middle School, was told last spring by Assistant Principal Andrew Buikema (pictured) and teacher Wendy Bradford to take off his “Let’s Go Brandon!” hoodie as it violated school dress code.

The dress code states school officials can “determine [if] a student’s dress is in conflict with state policy, is a danger to the students’ health and safety, is obscene, [or] is disruptive to the teaching and/or learning environment by calling undue attention to oneself.”

Western District of Michigan Judge Paul Maloney believed the “obscene” part, saying there is little-to-no difference between the two phrases.

“If schools can prohibit students from wearing apparel that contains profanity, schools can also prohibit students from wearing apparel that can reasonably be interpreted as profane,” Maloney wrote. (The district noted it also had banned shirts with the phrases “Fet’s Luck” and “Uranus Liquor” on them.)

MORE: Student banned from wearing ‘There are only two genders’ T-shirt sues school

Maloney noted administrators and teachers could prohibit apparel that reads “F#%* Joe Biden” or uses “homophones for profane words … [such as] ‘Somebody Went to HOOVER DAM And All I Got Was This DAM Shirt.’”

“Because Defendants reasonably interpreted the phrase as having a profane meaning,” Maloney said, “the School District can regulate wearing of Let’s Go Brandon apparel during school without showing interference or disruption at the school….”

Turley called the decision both “jarring and chilling”:

The “Let’s Go Brandon” slogan is more than just a substitute for profanity directed at the President (which itself has political content). It is using satire to denounce the press that often acts like a state media. It is commentary on the alliance between the government and the media in shaping what the public sees and hears. …

My view of free speech as a human right is not absolute and I recognize the need for schools to maintain civil discourse. However, the decision by Judge Maloney reflects the slippery slope of functionalism in more narrowly defining the protection of free speech. The default of Judge Maloney is to limit speech even when it is not overtly profane and concerns a major political controversy.

In his initial analysis of the case, Turley surmised it was teachers and administrators who were offended by the student’s shirt, not fellow pupils. The Daily Caller reported last year that Asst. Principal Buikema allegedly made a student take off a “Trump 2020” cape on a “non-traditional apparel” day, yet allowed other students to wear gay pride-themed garb.

The student’s complaint against the district was initiated by FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

MORE: Federal court rules students’ pro-gun shirts are protected by First Amendment

IMAGE: Liz Harrington/X; Andrew Buikema/Linkedin

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