Supreme Court won't hear 'Let's Go Brandon' sweatshirt case
The Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal from two Michigan brothers who were told not to wear "Let's Go Brandon" sweatshirts at school. The order leaves in place a ruling that the school could ban the phrase as vulgar. The justices denied hundreds of other appeals as their new term began.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the case of two Michigan brothers whose middle school barred their "Let's Go Brandon" sweatshirts. The move leaves in place a lower court ruling for the school.
The case began in 2022 at Tri County Middle School in Howard City, Michigan. The brothers, then in sixth and eighth grade, got the sweatshirts as Christmas gifts. The school told them they could not wear them. Their family sued, arguing the shirts were political speech protected by the First Amendment.
The phrase is a stand-in for a crude insult aimed at former President Joe Biden. It took off in 2021 after a NASCAR race, when a TV reporter interviewing driver Brandon Brown said a crowd chant was "Let's go, Brandon."
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the school. Judge John Nalbandian wrote that the phrase's "vulgar meaning" trumps its political message in a school setting. The court leaned on a 1986 Supreme Court ruling, Bethel School District v. Fraser, which lets schools limit lewd speech by students.
The order came on the first Monday of the court's new term. The justices turned away hundreds of appeals. They declined to take up a case on whether people convicted of felonies may own guns, several challenges to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and an appeal from Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof. They also turned down former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in an $8.2 million case. And they sent a case on legal protections for some Venezuelan migrants back to a lower court.
Denying a case does not mean the justices agree with the lower court. It only means they will not review it now.
The court hears arguments Tuesday in Anderson v. Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee, a case about how retirement plans invest workers' savings. Audio of arguments is posted on supremecourt.gov.
What we know: The school's sweatshirt ban stands.
What we don't: Whether the justices will take up student speech in a later case.
Where outlets agree PBS, carrying AP, and SCOTUSblog both report the justices turned away the Michigan brothers' appeal on Monday, leaving the 6th Circuit ruling for the school in place.
Where they differ The family says the sweatshirts were political speech, while the appeals court said the phrase's vulgar meaning lets a school ban it.