Overview

• The high court’s decision lets stand a 1st Circuit ruling that Nichols Middle School reasonably forecasted a ‘serious negative impact’ on transgender and gender-nonconforming students under Tinker v. Des Moines.
• L.M., then a seventh grader, first wore the slogan in March 2023 and later returned with the words “only two” covered by a taped “censored” label after being sent home.
• The school’s dress code bars messages deemed hate speech or imagery targeting groups by gender identity, sexual orientation or other classifications.
• Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing the lower courts distorted student free speech rights and engaged in viewpoint discrimination.
• The ruling comes as the Supreme Court prepares a separate decision on Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors by the end of June 2025.