A federal judge has delivered “another blow to free speech,” and constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, who has both advised Congress on key points in the Constitution and represented members in disputes, is urging an appeal.
The fight is over a student who wore a T-shirt to school with the slogan, “Let’s Go Brandon.”
That, Turley explained, “has become a similarly unintended political battle cry not just against Biden but also against the bias of the media. It derives from an Oct. 2 interview with race-car driver Brandon Brown after he won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race. During the interview, NBC reporter Kelli Stavast’s questions were drowned out by loud-and-clear chants of ‘F*** Joe Biden.’ Stavast quickly and inexplicably declared, ‘You can hear the chants from the crowd, ‘Let’s go, Brandon!””
It was Paul Maloney, the judge in the D.A. v. Tri County Area Schools case in Michigan who used the power of his black robes to grant the school permission to censor the student’s shirt.
He said vulgar and profane words are not fully protected by the First Amendment, and claimed, “If schools can prohibit students from wearing apparel that contains profanity, schools can also prohibit students from wearing apparel that can reasonably be interpreted as profane.”
He said, “Removing a few letters from the profane word or replacing letters with symbols would not render the message acceptable in a school setting. … School officials have restricted student from wearing shirts that use homophones for profane words … [such as] “Somebody Went to HOOVER DAM And All I Got Was This ‘DAM’ Shirt.’”
The case developed when a student, “C.C.”, wore a “Let’s Go Brandon” slogan on a shirt to school. He was punished repeatedly, and eventually sued.
School officials clearly were “put out over the political messaging of the shirt. However, we should encourage students to be politically aware and expressive. Moreover, if schools are allowed to extrapolate profane meaning from non-profane language, it is hard to see the limits on such censorship,” Turley explained.
“So what if students now wear ‘Let’s Go Krista’ shirts? How many degrees of removal will negate the profane imputation. Does that mean that the use of ‘let’s go’ in any shirt is now prohibited?
“C.C. and his family should continue to litigate and, if necessary, appeal this worthy case in the interests of free speech for all students,” Turley explained.
