GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a Michigan school district’s decision to prohibit two students from wearing sweatshirts bearing the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon,” ruling that the phrase could be reasonably interpreted as vulgar and thus subject to regulation under the First Amendment’s student speech exceptions.
According to Case No. 24-1769 filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan and appealed to the Sixth Circuit, two middle school students in Howard City wore sweatshirts to school in 2022 with the phrase widely understood as a euphemism for “F— Joe Biden.” School administrators requested they remove the garments, citing the district’s dress code prohibiting vulgar or profane attire.
The students’ mother, identified as B.A., sued the Tri County Area Schools and two administrators, arguing the ban violated her children’s constitutional rights to political expression. The district court sided with the school, and on October 14, 2025, the Sixth Circuit affirmed.
Writing for the majority, Judge Nalbandian stated that while the students’ message was political, the phrase carried a widely understood vulgar meaning. The court applied the precedent from Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, which allows schools to restrict student speech deemed lewd or vulgar without proving disruption, and concluded that the administrators acted within their rights under the First Amendment.
The decision rejected the argument that the phrase’s euphemistic form shielded it from regulation, stating that the school was not required to tolerate language reasonably interpreted as profane, even if coded.
Judge Bush dissented, arguing that Tinker v. Des Moines—not Fraser—should govern since the students’ sweatshirts contained no profane words and clearly conveyed a political viewpoint. He warned that allowing administrators to censor euphemistic political speech risked undermining core First Amendment protections.
The ruling creates a potential split with the First, Second, Third, and Ninth Circuits, which have generally applied Tinker to student speech with political overtones that is not overtly vulgar.
