Dad claims son was harassed by staff for wearing 'Let's Go Brandon' shirt, sues school district
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A father has filed a lawsuit against an Ohio school district he claims “punished” his son for wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” T-shirt to school.

The lawsuit, obtained by Fox News Digital, alleges a teacher and principal at Madison Middle School in Mansfield violated a student’s First Amendment right to free speech and 14th Amendment right to due process when he was punished for wearing the shirt to school several times.

The first incident happened in November, according to the lawsuit, when the boy wore the T-shirt beneath a flannel shirt in a hallway before class had started.

A teacher, identified as a registered Democrat in the complaint, allegedly made the boy button up the shirt to cover the message, telling him, “I know what that means.”

Madison middle school

Madison Middle School in Mansfield, Ohio (Google Maps)

In 2023, two students who were prohibited from wearing clothing with the same phrase to school filed a lawsuit against their Michigan school district.

The district and its employees were “censoring students who try to express support for former President Donald Trump or opposition to President Joe Biden,” according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which describes itself as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought,” represented the Tri County Middle School students who sued the school district for viewpoint discrimination after they were ordered to remove sweatshirts they wore to school that featured the phrase in February 2022.

In a similar situation to Conrad’s, an assistant principal and a teacher “ordered the boys to remove their sweatshirts” for allegedly violating a dress code while allowing other students to wear other political apparel like “gay-pride-themed hoodies,” according to FIRE.

Biden at the Rose Garden

President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House Nov. 26, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

“Criticism of the president is core political speech protected by the First Amendment,” FIRE attorney Conor Fitzpatrick previously said. “Whether it’s a Biden sticker, ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ sweatshirt or Gay Pride T-shirt, schools can’t pick and choose which political beliefs students can express.”

FIRE said the incident involving the two students is part of a “pattern of political favoritism” by the school district that it is “wrongly relying on a policy that prohibits ‘profane’ clothing to censor this particular message.”

“When the school district relaxed the dress code for field day, a school administrator ordered a student to stop wearing a Trump flag as a cape but permitted other students to wear gay pride flags in the same manner,” the group said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.

“The slogan exists as a way to express an anti-Biden message without using profanity,” Fitzpatrick said. “A public school district cannot censor speech just because it might cause someone to think about a swear word.”

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis and Kyle Morris contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

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