Student’s Second Amendment shirt prompts First Amendment lawsuit

At the start of the school year, Johnston High School government teacher Thomas Griffin gave a lesson about free speech, explaining that students’ rights to it were “extremely limited” while on school property, according to a new lawsuit.

He said that he wouldn’t allow students to “wear any clothing that depicts guns, alcohol, or any other ‘inappropriate material,’” the document alleges.

But one student at the Johnston, Iowa, school felt her teacher was “wrong about the scope” of the First Amendment. The next time she had class, she walked in wearing a black T-shirt that read “What part of ‘shall not be infringed’ do you not understand?” alongside an image of a rifle.

Soon after, she was removed from class and later suspended from school, according to the lawsuit, which her mother filed against the Johnston Community School District and several employees, including Griffin. The lawsuit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

The complaint alleges that the defendants violated the First Amendment when they suspended the student - a minor identified only as A.B. - based on the shirt, which it says “did not materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school or invade the rights of others, did not promote illegal conduct, and was not lewd, indecent, or vulgar.”

Alan Ostergren, an attorney representing the student’s mother, said he hopes the case makes a point about students’ free-speech rights.

“Something that is simply quoting the Constitution and has the image of a firearm is nowhere close to the line of what schools can prevent students from wearing,” he said.

The lawsuit also requests an injunction that would prohibit the district from “restricting students from wearing clothing at school that depicts firearms in a non-violent, non-threatening manner.”

A spokesperson for the Johnston Community School District and its employees declined to comment on the case. As of Thursday, the district had not yet been served with the lawsuit.

Over the years, the student and her brother had both worn the Second Amendment shirt to Johnston High “with no complaints,” the document says. But when she wore it to Griffin’s class in September, he said “the shirt violated the school’s dress code” and removed her from the room, according to the lawsuit.

The district’s dress code, which was last revised in June, prohibits “clothing or other apparel promoting products illegal for use by minors” and says that “clothing displaying obscene material, profanity, or reference to prohibited conduct are disallowed.” The Johnston High parent and student handbook for the 2022-23 school year adds that “any form of expression that promotes violence, bigotry, hate, or abuse is unacceptable.”

On the day the student wore the T-shirt to class, she told Griffin that she had a right to do so, but Griffin told her she was “wrong about the First Amendment and that the administration would back him up,” according to the lawsuit.

She was sent to the administration office, where her mother, Janet Bristow, later arrived to meet with school officials, the court complaint states.

During a conversation with Bristow and her daughter, the lawsuit alleges that the district’s human resources director said the student couldn’t wear the shirt in school because “an image of a gun could be perceived to be threatening.”

Bristow countered, asking if any students felt offended or threatened.

In response, the human resources director told them “we don’t get to choose how our words or actions make people feel,” the lawsuit states.

Johnson High administrators allegedly would not let the student go back to class unless she changed her shirt. When she refused, she was suspended, according to the lawsuit.

Later that day, after Bristow emailed the school board about the incident, the district’s superintendent called her to apologize, the lawsuit alleges. Then, another administrator called, telling Bristow he recognized that “this is considered political speech,” according to Bristow.

Legal precedent for students’ rights to freedom of speech and expression was established in the 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines case, which Griffin reportedly taught before the student wore the Second Amendment shirt. The case is also cited in the complaint.

Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, said if the case goes to trial, a primary question for the jury to consider would be whether the school district acted in accordance with its own dress code.

“It either has to be spelled out in the dress code or has to be something that is so disruptive that it’s clear that they would need to keep it out of the classroom,” he said.

He added that students wearing clothing to send a message is considered expressive conduct under the First Amendment.

“This is a terrible lesson to teach a young woman who is trying to demonstrate her First Amendment right and support her Second Amendment rights,” Paulson said.

Bristow has asked for Griffin and the administrators to apologize to her daughter.