“Freedom” Shirts Reportedly Banned In Kansas Elementary Public School

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

An elementary school in Kansas has raised a novel question under the First Amendment: whether the freedom of speech includes the right to use the word “freedom.” According to some media reports, Arbor Creek Elementary Principal Melissa Snell stopped the wearing of shirts reading “Freedom,” which have become popular after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The move is clearly a violation under the First Amendment, in my view.

Libs of TikTok posted an email exchange between Arbor Creek Elementary Principal Melissa Snell and an (unnamed) individual in which Snell confirmed the ban. The email stated: “I just want to make sure that you have told your staff to not wear those ‘Freedom’ shirts to school anymore. Thank you.”

Snell allegedly responded: “Yes, I have. Was there someone in particular that you are referring to? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Our crackerjack investigatory unit at Res Ipsa was able to find that person for Snell from what appears to be video of students of Arbor Creek:

Notably, the Olathe Public Schools district itself sells “We All Belong Together” shirts via its Department of Culture and Belonging. However, “Freedom” shirts were banned, at least temporarily.

Deputy Superintendent Lachelle Sigg wrote to the school community that the district “remain[s] committed to […] honoring all first amendment rights and ensuring that personal expression does not disrupt the educational setting.”

If so, that commitment is more rhetorical than actual.

Superintendent Brent Yeager confirmed the emails that Libs of TikTok had posted earlier in the week, but suggested that it was temporary as Snell “reviewed district practices.”

I fail to see why Snell had to suspend the wearing of such shirts pending review. This is clearly a content-based limitation on speech.

In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), the Supreme Court upheld the right of students to wear armbands protesting the Vietnam War, famously writing, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

This does not involve the type of “lewd,” “vulgar,” “indecent,” or “plainly offensive” speech discussed in cases such as Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986). It is a statement of solidarity between the freedom of speech, a statement made more poignant and urgent with the murder of Kirk for exercising that right.

It is also not a celebration of unlawful conduct, as in Morse v. Frederick (2007), as opposed to the exercise of our most “Indispensable Right.”

It is a good thing that Joseph Cinqué did not try to enroll at Arbor Creek Elementary:

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Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the bestselling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”