In December 2024, Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in B.A. v. Tri County Area Schools. The Michigan district banned students from wearing clothing with the political slogan “Let’s Go Brandon.” A federal trial court upheld the ban, not because the phrase isn’t political, but because its origin is tied to profanity.
The brief argues:
- Schools are meant to protect free debate. The Supreme Court has called public schools “the nurseries of democracy” and said students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
- The school must meet a high bar. To ban student speech, the district must show it fits one of a few narrow exceptions. The district relies only on the exception for plainly profane, vulgar, or lewd speech.
- The phrase isn’t plainly profane. At worst, “Let’s Go Brandon” is a euphemism. Members of Congress have said it in floor speeches, broadcast TV has aired it uncensored, and the sitting President said it in a news interview.
- This is core political speech. It addresses a matter of public concern, the kind of speech schools can rarely, if ever, restrict.
PDE urged the court to reverse the trial court and rule that the First Amendment protects the students’ political speech.
Read the full brief below:
Case developments
Defending Education Files an Amicus Brief in D.A. v. Tri County Area Schools
