Supreme Court leaves Michigan sweatshirt ban ruling in place

The Supreme Court on October 5 declined to hear a family’s First Amendment appeal over two Michigan students who were told to remove “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts at school, leaving in place a divided federal appeals court ruling for the school district. The denial did not explain the justices’ reasoning and does not establish a new nationwide precedent. The case arose after the students, brothers who were in sixth and eighth grade in 2022, wore the sweatshirts to Tri County Middle School. School officials told them to take the garments off, citing the district’s policy against vulgar or profane clothing. The family sued, arguing that the school had violated the students’ First Amendment rights by restricting political expression that was not disruptive and did not contain explicit profanity. The district argued that the slogan’s commonly understood meaning was profane, even though the printed words themselves were not. It maintained that its policy covered vulgar expressions conveyed through euphemism or coded language, and that political content did not exempt clothing from the rule.