But this column concerns the clear thinking and unbiased folks on the other side of the political spectrum. Back in October of 2021, Brandon Brown won the Talladega NASCAR race. As he was being interviewed by an NBC Sports reporter, the God-fearing crowd of NASCAR enthusiasts, who in no way suffered from Biden Derangement syndrome started chanting "F*** Joe Biden." The reporter said that the crowd was cheering "Let's Go Brandon." From that point forward, respectful and totally not deranged supporters of Donald Trump began using the "Let's Go Brandon" cheer as a thinly veiled method for communicating their well-considered and totally not deranged analysis of the Biden Administration, i.e. "F*** Joe Biden."
On November 25, 2024, a student in the Madison Local School District in Mansfield, Ohio wore a "Let's Go Brandon" t-shirt under a flannel shirt to school. A teacher told him to button up the flannel shirt. Later in the day, the student, identified in the lawsuit as "C.C.", took the flannel shirt off. As a result, he was sent to Principal Andrew Keeple's office. Keeple told C.C. not to wear the shirt to school again. C.C., with the encouragement of his father, Richard Conrad, wore the shirt again in January of 2025. On that day, Keeple called Mr. Conrad to inform him that C.C. had once again violated the school's dress code and if he did it again there would be further disciplinary action taken because the message was code for a vulgar expression. Mr. Conrad disagreed with Keeple about the message the t-shirt conveyed and informed Keeple he would not instruct C.C. to stop wearing the t-shirt. On March 24, 2025, C. C. wore the t-shirt again and received a detention from Keeple. Two more times C.C. was disciplined by the school for violations of the Student Code of Conduct. Thereafter, Mr. Conrad filed a federal lawsuit, literally making a federal case out of this.
Most recently, Mr. Conrad moved for a preliminary injunction asking the Court to enjoin the School from prohibiting C.C. from participating in school trips to the Mansfield Reformatory and Cedar Point. His discipline over the shirt included a ban on participating in field trips. The Court denied the request. The Court found that participation in field trips is a privilege, not a right, and thus, C.C. suffered no irreparable harm.
The case illustrates the tightrope public schools walk on matters of free speech. In 1969, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Tinker v. Des Moines, where it held that public school students retained their First Amendment rights in school, so long as their speech did not materially and substantially disrupt the educational process. The result of Tinker was that the school could not discipline students for wearing black arm bands to protest the Viet Nam war. But in the later decided case of Bethel School District v. Fraser, the Supreme Court upheld a school's right to prohibit vulgar speech, noting, it had "recognized an interest in protecting minors from exposure to vulgar and offensive spoken language." And the Court found that "it is a highly appropriate function of a public-school education to prohibit the use of vulgar and offensive terms in public discourse."
So, is C.C.'s shirt protected political speech or vulgarity, which the school may prohibit? In a recent Michigan case involving a school disciplining a student for wearing the same shirt, the Court sided with the school, holding that the school's interpretation of the shirt was reasonable. Here, C.C. didn't help his case when he conceded that "Let's Go Brandon" was a euphemism for "F*** Joe Biden." I am a First Amendment defender, and if some kid wanted to wear a shirt saying "Biden is the Worst" I'd represent him for free. But C.C. and Mr. Conrad insisted, in a totally not deranged way, that the First Amendment protects their right to use vulgarity in a school setting. It doesn't. And I think the First Amendment will survive C.C.'s disappointment in missing out on a Cedar Point field trip. But maybe that's my Trump Derangement Syndrome showing.