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Showing posts with label SCOTUS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SCOTUS. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Supreme Court doesn't take Middleboro 'only two genders' case. Why 2 justices wanted to

 


Supreme Court doesn't take Middleboro 'only two genders' case. Why 2 justices wanted to



The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday, May 27, to hear a Middleboro student’s free speech case two years after officials at Nichols Middle School asked then-seventh grader Liam Morrison to change out of a T-shirt that read “there are only two genders.”

Backed by the conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Morrison and his family filed a lawsuit against the school in May of 2023, claiming the school violated his First Amendment right to free speech.

“We’re disappointed the Supreme Court chose not to hear this critical free speech case,” ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation David Cortman wrote in a written statement. “Our legal system is built on the truth that the government cannot silence any speaker just because it disapproves of what they say,” he wrote.

Liam Morrison of Middleboro sued the town after being sent home for wearing a T-shirt to middle school that said "There are only two genders." Morrison is appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, his attorney at the Alliance Defending Freedom announced on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. Morrison is seen here with his parents Sue and Chris.

Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito write dissenting opinions

Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas disagreed with the Court’s decision to deny the appeal, citing the Tinker v. Des Moines 1969 Supreme Court ruling that public school officials may not restrict a student’s freedom of speech unless behavior “materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others,” according to court documents.

“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 his dissenting opinion.

FILE PHOTO: Associate Justice Samuel Alito poses during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., April 23, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

What did the majority say?

For the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case, at least four of the nine justices have to vote in favor of taking the case.

When the court votes against taking the case, as in this instance, the majority does not issue a written opinion explaining why.

Middleboro schools won every appeal

Last August, Morrison and Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a notice of appeal after the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled against Morrison in a preliminary injunction.

In June, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld that ruling, asserting that the school had enough grounds to ask Morrison to change his shirt due to its potential to cause psychological distress to other students.

School officials said that his shirt also violated the school's dress code, which bans clothing that could cause harm or damage to a "protected class of students" — kids who identify as transgender and are particularly at risk of bullying and suicide, in this case.


THE ENTERPRISE


Court sides with school that sent 7th grader home over ‘There Are Only Two Genders’ T-shirt

Saturday, May 24, 2025

Trump BEGS SCOTUS to COVER UP DOGE DOCS CLEARLY EXPLAINED!

 

CREW - CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON

FOIA: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 


Katie Phang
123K subscribers


DOGE wants to play hide the ball with the American public. Katie Phang on how the Trump Administration is hiding what Elon Musk and DOGE are really doing behind the government’s closed doors. Subscribe to Katie's Substack here: https://katiephang.substack.com

Monday, May 19, 2025

Evening Roundup, May 19

 


Evening Roundup, May 28...plus a special thank you to our Contrarian family

Evening Roundup, May 28...plus a special thank you to our Contrarian family Featuring Jen Rubin, Katherine Stewart, Brian O'Neill, Jenni...