WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of a Massachusetts student who was barred from wearing a T-shirt to school proclaiming there are only two genders.
Liam Morrison, an eighth grader at the time, sued Middleborough Public Schools in Massachusetts for telling him he couldn’t wear a T-shirt that read “There are only two genders.” The boy argued that the action by school administrators was a violation of his constitutional right to free speech.
“This isn’t just about the shirt. It’s about free speech. All students have a constitutional right to express their free speech without fear of being punished by school officials,” Liam Morrison said in February 2024.
On Tuesday, the justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that said it would not second-guess the decision of educators in Middleborough, Massachusetts, to not allow the T-shirt to be worn in a school environment because of a negative impact on transgender and gender-nonconforming students.
Educators at the John T. Nichols Middle School barred the student from wearing the T-shirt and an altered version with the words “two genders” covered up by tape with the word “censored” written on it.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
The court should have heard the case, Alito wrote, noting that “the school permitted and indeed encouraged student expression endorsing the view that there are many genders,” but censored an opposing view.
“This case presents an issue of great importance for our Nation’s youth: whether public schools may suppress student speech either because it expresses a viewpoint that the school disfavors or because of vague concerns about the likely effect of the speech on the school atmosphere or on students who find the speech offensive,” Alito wrote.
In March 2023, Liam wore the T-shirt saying “There are only two genders” to Nichols Middle School, and the principal of the school, along with a school counselor, pulled Liam out of class and ordered him to remove his shirt, according to the boy and his attorneys.
“I was told to change shirts or I would not be able to return to class,” Liam told reporters in February 2024. “I politely declined. As a result, I left school and missed the rest of my classes that day.”
Attorneys argued in the Court of Appeals. Lawyers for Morrison sought an injunction so he can wear the shirt immediately, but attorneys for the public school district said it doesn’t support their educational mission of inclusivity.
“The problem is the school district itself waded into a controversial cultural issue, which it certainly is welcome to do. But then it took sides in the debate, and that’s certainly way across the constitutional line,” said Morrison’s counsel, Attorney Dave Courtman of Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal organization, said in February 2024.
Liam’s attorneys argued that the case involves school officials’ censorship of Liam’s message, along with their decision to silence his speech protesting their censorship. This violates the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, his attorneys said last year.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, also filed legal documents in the case.
“As the school said, the truth of the matter is they have a diverse student body. There are trans and non-binary students at the school, and they have as much a legal obligation to equal and positive learning environment for those students as to any other student,” Attorney Mary Bonauto of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders said last year.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was reasonable to predict that the T-shirt will “poison the educational atmosphere” and disrupt the learning environment.
The school district’s decision was in line with a landmark Supreme Court ruling from 1969, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, that upheld the right of public school students to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War when it did not create a substantial disruption to education.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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