More than a dozen attorney generals in states across the country have come out in support of a student who was banned from wearing an anti-transgender shirt to school, and have called on the Supreme Court to hear the student's case.
Friend-of-the-court briefs were filed by 18 mostly Republican-led states asking the Supreme Court to take student Liam Morrison's case after this lawyers filed a petition. A Boston Court of Appeals agreed with the previous decision that his rights were not violated in June, as reported by Boston.com.
In March 2023, Morrison was sent home from his middle school after he refused to change his shirt which read "There are only two genders." He then later wore a "There are only censored genders" to the school, and was asked again to change his shirt, as reported by the Boston Herald.
"This case isn't about T-shirts; it's about a public school telling a middle-schooler that he isn't allowed to express a view that differs from their own. The school actively promotes its view about gender through posters and 'Pride' events, and it encourages students to wear clothing with messages on the same topic—so long as that clothing expresses the school's preferred views on the subject," David Cortman, senior counsel and vice president of U.S. Litigation for the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement.
South Carolina and West Virginia led the multi-state brief, which was also supported by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
"By silencing L.M., the First Circuit created a speech-hostile standard that—contrary to [Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District]—allows schools to restrain even silent, passive displays of speech that cause no actual disruption," the brief reads. "It split from other circuits on issues like what facts a school must show to justify a restriction on student speech. And it effectively sanctioned viewpoint discrimination in public schools."
In the Appeals Court ruling, the court stated that the school had been enforcing a dress code as the shirt reportedly had a "disruptive impact." The school's principal also reportedly told Morrison that students had reported feeling unsafe as a result of the shirt, as reported by the Herald.
Meanwhile, the conservative groups and Morrison's lawyers argued that the school violated his freedom of speech, and that the alleged disruption mentioned by the school was not proven in court.
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