Students wearing political T-shirts head to court, one petitions justices to weigh in

Students are going to court over T-shirts that express their political views — and at least one is taking his challenge to the Supreme Court.

Liam Morrison’s legal odyssey began last year when he was in seventh grade at John T. Nichols Jr. Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts. He was not allowed to attend class when he wore a T-shirt that read “There are only two genders.”

Liam chose to wear the shirt after school officials were teaching about gender identity in a manner that presented it as an unlimited choice unrelated to biology. Students were encouraged to wear rainbow-themed apparel.

Nichols Middle School required him to remove the T-shirt or else miss class that day. He refused and opted to miss class. Officials reasoned the shirt targeted a protected class of students.

The lower court sided with the school, saying the shirt could cause a disruption.

With the help of his lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom, Liam has taken his battle to the Supreme Court and asked the justices to review his case.

It would take four justices to vote in favor of reviewing the appeal for oral arguments to be granted.

ADF lawyer Logan Spena said student speech is an issue that comes up regularly.

“The issue in general is definitely a big deal. Students have the right,” Mr. Spena said. “They don’t shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gates.”

“Students have to be able to discuss important matters,” he added.

A spokesperson for Nichols Middle School did not respond to a request for comment.

In a similar case, Tri County Middle School in Howard City, Michigan, banned two brothers — identified as X.A. and D.A. in legal filings — from wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts in 2022.

The brothers’ family sued, saying the school was punishing political speech.

A lower court sided with the school, which said the shirts violated policy against vulgar speech. The court reasoned that “Let’s Go Brandon” constitutes profanity, as it is understood to mean “F—- Joe Biden.”

“The ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ political slogan, at issue here, is not profane. From bleeped swearwords on television to Kidz Bop albums, Americans know the difference between sanitized expression and a profane original,” the brothers argued in their filing this month to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A spokesperson for Tri County Middle School did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


The Supreme Court has held that students do not lose their First Amendment rights in schools in a 1969 landmark case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. Students who wore black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War won the challenge. The justices said school officials could only prohibit speech that would cause a disruption to education.

Nearly 20 years later, the Supreme Court issued another decision on student speech, allowing schools to punish speech that is lewd or vulgar.