The First Amendment Clinic filed a brief of amici curiae in December 2024 in D.A. v. Tri County Area Schools in the Sixth Circuit supporting two middle school students who were punished for their in-school political speech. Represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (“FIRE”), the students sued their Michigan school district for forcing them to remove sweatshirts reading “Let’s Go Brandon,” a phrase that has become a rallying cry for some conservative voices across the country. Having lost in the district court, the students appealed to the Sixth Circuit.

The Clinic represented a group of First Amendment legal scholars—Erwin Chemerinsky, Clay Calvert, Roy Gutterman, Mary-Rose Papandrea, and Joseph A. Tomain—in arguing, among other things, that the Western District of Michigan failed to apply the proper constitutional standard in rendering its decision. Specifically, the brief argues that by deferring to the school’s interpretation of a popular political phrase as “profane,” the district court improperly ignored the test established by the Supreme Court in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).

On October 14, 2025, the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of the school district, affirming the District Court's decision.

The Clinic filed an amicus brief on April 30, 2026, supporting a writ of certiorari before the United States Supreme Court.  

In this amicus, the Clinic represents Clay Calvert, Erwin Chemerinsky, Roy Gutterman, Heather E. Murray, Daniel Novack, Joseph A. Tomain, Eugene Volokh, and Sonja R. West in arguing that “the decision below impermissibly extends the authority of public-school officials to penalize students for expressing political viewpoints in the school environment that are neither sexually explicit or profane, nor disruptive to the learning process.” Specifically, the amicus brief argues that by deferring to the school’s interpretation of a popular political phrase as “profane,” the court improperly ignored the test established by the Supreme Court in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).

Information on this page is provided for archival purposes. All newly created PDFs on this website are accessible. For an accommodation for PDFs on this page, please contact law-web-ada@cornell.edu.