First Amendment Update: Sixth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Free Speech Case Filed by Students in “Let’s Go Brandon” Sweatshirts
October 14, 2025: The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld a grant of summary judgment for a public school district that asked two students to remove sweatshirts bearing the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon.”
The students sued the school district after their principal asked them to remove their sweatshirts and change into school-provided clothing, alleging that their First Amendment right to freedom of speech had been violated.
The school’s dress code policy allowed staff to ask students to remove clothing with “lewd, indecent, vulgar, or profane” messages or illustrations. While the message “Let’s Go Brandon” may not seem vulgar on its face, the school believed that the phrase had a commonly understood double meaning - as a euphemism for the phrase “F*ck Joe Biden.” Did asking the students to remove their sweatshirts violate their constitutional right to free speech at school?
To answer that question, the Sixth Circuit had to consider “whether a phrase that lacks explicitly profane words might still have a vulgar meaning” and “whether a school administrator may prohibit student political speech that has a vulgar message.”
It answered yes to both.
The Court reasoned that although students have the right to express their political opinions at school, school officials can still regulate vulgar speech in order to preserve an effective learning environment. And democratically elected school boards, not unelected federal judges, should be able to decide what is and isn’t appropriate for students to say at school.
Judge John K. Bush dissented, noting that there was no evidence the “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts had actually disrupted the learning environment at school.
The case is B.A. v. Tri County Area Sch.; MiLW No. 01-109846, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids.