Episode Details

A few years ago, two brothers who went to middle school together came to class wearing hooded sweatshirts that said “Let’s Go Brandon” on them.

Now, most people know the origin of that phrase—and what it actually means—but here’s the question: In a school context, is it appropriate?

Schools naturally do have policies against profanity, and they can send children home for violating them.

However, the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” doesn’t actually contain profane words. If someone reads it, and they don’t happen to know the backstory, then it doesn’t even mean anything to them.

The school officials did not see it that way, though, and they ordered the brothers to remove the sweatshirts.

This then led to a lawsuit by the brothers' parents over free speech. Can school administrators exercise this much discretion when deciding whether something is vulgar?

This case appears to be far-reaching, as evidenced by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to take it up.

Let's go through the details together.