The president also known as Brandon will soon be out of office, but the Michigan brothers disciplined for wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” hoodies to school are still locked in a legal battle pitting anti-profanity rules against the First Amendment.

The students identified as D.A. and X.A. filed an appeal earlier this month after a federal court dismissed their case against the Tri-County Area Schools in Western Michigan, finding that school officials acted permissibly when they ordered the boys to take off the anti-Biden sweatshirts in 2022.

In the brothers’ corner are a host of legal experts on both sides of the political aisle, including the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Liberty Justice Institute, Parents Defending Education, and the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic, all of which filed friend-of-the-court briefs last week.

“As the Supreme Court has made clear, the ‘offensive’ nature of political speech in schools is not grounds for its suppression,” said the brief filed by the Dhillon Law Group, Young America’s Foundation, and the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute.

U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney threw out the boys’ lawsuit against the school district in August, ruling that schools may enforce rules against profanity and that “Let’s Go, Brandon” originated as a “profane personal insult directed at President Joe Biden.”

The anti-Biden phrase swept the nation in 2021 after an NBC reporter falsely said live on the air that a NASCAR crowd was chanting “Let’s go, Brandon,” even though they were clearly shouting “F—- Joe Biden.”

The catchphrase inspired a booming market of “Let’s Go, Brandon” swag, including the blue hoodies that the Michigan brothers received as Christmas presents in 2021.

After wearing the sweatshirts to Tri County Middle School, however, the boys were told to remove them by an assistant principal and teacher in separate incidents in February and March 2022. The students were told that the phrase was code for “the F-word.”

The boys, who were in eighth and sixth grade at the time, complied, although D.A. was also wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” T-shirt underneath the sweatshirt. He was told to take off both and change into school-provided clothing, which he did.

“Defendants reasonably interpreted Let’s Go Brandon to F*** Joe Biden, the combination a politician’s name and a swear word — nothing else,” said Judge Maloney, a Bush appointee, in the Aug. 23 order.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represents the boys and their mother, argued in its Dec. 4 appeal that the phrase is a euphemism, not profanity, much like “shoot” and “fudge” are viewed as acceptable substitutes for profane terms.

“’Let’s Go Brandon,’ like the radio-friendly edit of a hit single, is intentionally sanitized expression designed to be suitable for all audiences,” said the 77-page appeal. “This type of expression is not ‘profane’ by any measure. The district court erred in holding otherwise.”

A friend-of-the-court brief filed by five linguistics experts, including professors John McWhorter of Columbia and Steve Pinker of Harvard, argued that “this case is not about swearing; it is about not swearing.”

“Properly understood, Let’s Go Brandon is a euphemism that does not carry with it its profane origins, and therefore is not of the category of profane speech that can be categorically prohibited in a school setting,” the linguists’ brief said.

The principal later testified that the hoodies would have been acceptable if they had referred to, say, Detroit Tigers baseball player Brandon Inge.

“The School District is thus policing thought, not expression,” said the foundation in its appeal. “And that is a five-alarm First Amendment fire.”

The foundation also said that “administrators allowed students to wear apparel with other political messages, including gay-pride-themed hoodies.”

The Biden camp eventually embraced the label, depicting Mr. Biden as the superhero “Dark Brandon,” and even selling “Dark Brandon” merchandise on the campaign website starting in 2022.

Mr. Biden himself said “Let’s go, Brandon” in response to a prank caller who told him “Merry Christmas and let’s go, Brandon” as he and first lady Jill Biden took calls at a 2021 Christmas event.

The president seemed to be unaware of what the phrase meant; the first lady seemingly was not.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.