Supreme Court Declines Massachusetts Student Free Speech Appeal Over Gender T-Shirt

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of Liam Morrison, a Massachusetts seventh-grader who was barred from wearing T-shirts stating "There are only two genders" and later "There are [censored] genders" to school, effectively upholding lower court rulings supporting the school's decision. School officials justified the ban by citing concerns about the emotional well-being of transgender and gender-nonconforming students, arguing the shirts disrupted the educational environment. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented sharply, criticizing the Court's refusal to hear the case as a failure to protect free speech rights and calling it an endorsement of ideological censorship in schools. The dissent emphasized that students do not shed their First Amendment rights at school and argued that the lower courts misapplied the Tinker v. Des Moines standard by allowing viewpoint discrimination. Legal advocates representing Morrison, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, condemned the decision as a setback for free speech, noting the school promotes its own viewpoint on gender while silencing dissenting opinions. The case highlights ongoing national debates over gender identity, free speech in schools, and the balance between inclusivity and constitutional rights.