In November 2024, Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear L.M. v. Town of Middleborough. Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, punished a student, L.M., for expressing the view that “there are only two genders.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the punishment.
Gender identity is a heated political and social debate. Some believe gender is subjective; others believe sex can’t be changed. Speech on topics like this “lies at the heart of the First Amendment’s protection.” The Supreme Court has said students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
The brief argues that the First Circuit got it wrong and created a split with other courts:
- The school discriminated based on viewpoint. Middleborough allowed, and even encouraged, speech supporting the idea that there are more than two genders, but banned L.M.’s opposing view. That alone is reason for the Supreme Court to take the case and reverse.
- The school didn’t meet the Tinker standard. Under Tinker v. Des Moines, a school can limit student speech only if it would seriously disrupt schoolwork or invade the rights of others. Middleborough offered no evidence that any student was harmed beyond the discomfort of hearing an unpopular view, and it didn’t show L.M. targeted anyone. Hurt feelings are not enough.
- The First Circuit watered down the rules. It treated viewpoint discrimination as if it didn’t matter for K-12 students and replaced Tinker’s demanding test with simple deference to school officials.
PDE urged the Supreme Court to take the case.
Read the full brief below:
case developments
PDE Files 1st Circuit Court of Appeals Amicus Brief in LM v. Middleborough
