HOWARD CITY (WWJ) - A pair of students in West Michigan are suing their school after they were told by officials that they couldn't wear their "Let's Go Brandon" sweatshirts to class.
The federal lawsuit, filed on behalf of the students by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), claims officials with the Tri County Area School District that the incident unjustly infringed on the boys’ First Amendment rights.
WWJ's Ryan Wrecker reported that the two students attending Tri County Middle School in Howard City, north of Grand Rapids, were stopped by an assistant principal and a teacher back on Feb, 11 and ordered to remove the sweaters that said 'Let's Go Brandon."
The phrase has become a political slogan to criticize President Joe Biden -- it is often used with a chat containing foul language, although the clothing worn by the students did not contain any offensive words.
District officials said the decision had nothing to do with the clothing's political message, but rather because the phrase is “transparent code for using profanity against the President.”
FIRE lawyers fired back, stating that the district doesn't get to "pick and choose" what political beliefs students can express and which ones they can't.
Attorneys said the schools officials also cannot censor speech.
"The assistant principal and the teacher did not contend that the [students] were disrupting lessons or that they were disrupting kids in the hallway," FIRE attorney Conor Fitzpatrick told Wrecker. "Simply, their belief was that the sweatshirt is profane and therefore they could prohibit these boys from wearing it."
Fitzpatrick said the incident furthered their claims that the school district has a pattern of political favoritism.
In an earlier field day event held at the middle school, it was alleged in the lawsuit that officials told a student wearing a President Trump flag as a cape to remove it, but allowed others students to continue wearing gay pride flags in the same manner.
“These students should not only be allowed to express their political beliefs, but should be encouraged to do so,” said FIRE attorney Harrison Rosenthal. “America’s students must be free to exercise their constitutional rights, not just learn about them.”
The lawsuit mirrors the 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines which argued over students' First Amendment right to wear a black armband to school in protest of the Vietnam War.
"When the principal became aware of the plan, he warned the students that they would be suspended if they wore the armbands to school because the protest might cause a disruption in the learning environment," a review of the case by U.S. courts explained. "Despite the warning, some students wore the armbands and were suspended."
The Supreme Court's majority affirmed the students' First Amendment right, stating that people with differing viewpoints is not only “an inevitable part of the process of attending school; it is also an important part of the educational process.”
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