Latest news with #DavidCortman
CNN
4 days ago
- General
- CNN
Free Speech or Disruption? SCOTUS Declines to Hear Student Gender Shirt Case
Massachusetts middle school student Liam Morrison's T-shirt reading 'There Are Only Two Genders' has ignited a national debate over free speech in schools. After being sent home twice—once for the original message and again for a censored version—the Morrison family sued, claiming a First Amendment violation. Liam's attorney, David Cortman, who is senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, joins Michael Smerconish to dig into the case and SCOTUS decision.
CNN
5 days ago
- General
- CNN
Free Speech or Disruption? SCOTUS Declines to Hear Student Gender Shirt Case
Massachusetts middle school student Liam Morrison's T-shirt reading 'There Are Only Two Genders' has ignited a national debate over free speech in schools. After being sent home twice—once for the original message and again for a censored version—the Morrison family sued, claiming a First Amendment violation. Liam's attorney, David Cortman, who is senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, joins Michael Smerconish to dig into the case and SCOTUS decision.
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Outrage as teen who was banned from school over 'only two genders' shirt LOSES latest appeal
A teen's freedom of speech case has made it all the way up to the Supreme Court after he was sent home from school over two years ago for wearing a shirt that said, 'There are only two genders.' The Supreme Court declined to hear Liam Morrison's appeal, upholding a district court's decision siding with Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, a suburb outside of Boston. The First Circuit Court ruled that the school had the right to prohibit students' viewpoints if they were harmful, citing that the message was offensive to transgender students. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, with Alito writing that the case, 'presents an issue of great importance for our Nation's youth.' The Alliance Defending Freedom and the Massachusetts Family Institute are defending Liam and his parents in the case. '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 said in a statement after the ruling. 'Students don't lose their free speech rights the moment they walk into a school building. Schools can't suppress students' views they disagree with,' Cortman continued. 'Here, the school actively promotes its view about gender through posters and "Pride" events, and it encourages students to wear clothing with messages on the same topic—so long as that clothing expresses the school's preferred views on the subject.' The case cites a landmark ruling in 1969, Tinker v. Des Moines, which set precedent that students don't shed their right to free speech at school unless it causes 'substantial disruption.' The controversial saga originated over two years ago, when Liam, who was in seventh grade at the time, was asked to remove the divisive shirt. When he refused, his father, Christopher Morrison, was called to pick him up. Liam then returned to school with a piece of tape over the words 'only two' and wrote 'censored,' instead. Liam has since stood by his decision to wear the shirt, accusing his middle school of stripping him of his right to freedom of speech. 'What did my shirt say? Five simple words: "There are only two genders,"' Liam said at a school board meeting shortly after. 'Nothing harmful. Nothing threatening. Just a statement I believe to be a fact.' The family then filed the suit, citing the town of Middleborough, the previous acting school principal Heather Tucker, the Middleborough School Committee, and Middleborough Public Schools superintendent Carolyn J. Lyons. In June, the district court sided with the school, agreeing that educators didn't violate Liam's First Amendment rights. However, last October, Liam's family appealed his case to the Supreme Court in hopes of a different outcome. 'This case isn't about T-shirts; it's about a public school telling a middle-schooler that he isn't allowed to express a view that differs from their own,' Cortman said at the time. Liam wrote an op-ed featured in Fox News in February titled, 'My middle school silenced my free speech T-shirts about "two genders." I'm fighting back.' In his essay, Liam said that his parents taught him to challenge his thinking and come to his own conclusions without outside influences. 'It's natural for our family to have those conversations where we share our different thoughts and views. Shouldn't that be natural and encouraged at school, too?' he wrote. Deborah Ecker, the lawyer representing the school, previously argued that educators were within their rights to ask Liam not to wear the shirt. 'Looking at what the school officials knew about their school, the age of the kids, the LGBTQ community in that school, and the real mental health concerns, their decision to have the plaintiff remove the T-shirt was reasonable.' 'They reasonably could forecast that the message, if he was allowed to wear it in the school and in a classroom, would reasonably cause a disruption to the school work and invade the rights of other students.' School officials also argued that the student handbook prohibits clothing implying hate speech based on 'race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation or any other classification.' The school's superintendent defended the decision, noting that some students 'have attempted to commit suicide or have had suicidal ideations in the past few years, including members of the LGBTQ+ community,' Reuters reported. The superintendent added that some of the students' struggles were related to the mistreatment they received because of their gender identity. Liam's case has made national headlines since he was sent home over two years ago. The political climate has changed since then, with President Trump signing an executive order on his first day in office titled, 'Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.' The order redefined the definition of sex as a biological classification of male or female. It also required Americans to have their biological sex listed on all federal documentation instead of their gender identity. The political climate has changed since Liam first wore his shirt to class. President Trump signed an executive order stating that the federal government would only recognize two genders The Massachusetts Family Institute, who is also representing Liam and his family in the case, praised the Executive Order. 'For individuals like Liam Morrison, which have been persecuted for saying exactly what this order proclaims, this development serves as validation,' the Massachusetts Family Institute said in January. However, many have called the order transphobic, with LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD calling it 'inaccurate,' 'inflammatory,' and 'highly unhinged.'
