L. M. v. Middleborough

1 Cite as: 605 U. S. ____ (2025)
T
HOMAS, J., dissenting
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
L. M., A MINOR, BY AND THROUGH HIS FATHER AND
STEPMOTHER AND NATURAL GUARDIANS
, CHRISTOPHER
AND SUSAN MORRISON v. TOWN OF
MIDDLEBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS,
ET AL.
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED
STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
No. 24–410. Decided May 27, 2025
The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
J
USTICE THOMAS, dissenting from the denial of certiorari.
In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School
Dist., 393 U. S. 503 (1969), this Court held that public-
school officials may not restrict a student’s freedom of
speech unless his behavior “materially disrupts classwork
or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of
others.” Id., at 513. I have previously explained why
Tinker’s holding is “without basis in the Constitution” and
should be “dispense[d] with . . . altogether.” Morse v. Fred-
erick, 551 U. S. 393, 410, 422 (2007) (concurring opinion);
see id., at 410–422; Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L., 594
U. S. 180, 216–217 (2021) (dissenting opinion). But, unless
and until this Court revisits it, Tinker is binding precedent
that lower courts must faithfully apply.
For the reasons explained by J
USTICE ALITO, the First
Circuit decision below flouts Tinker and its progeny. Post,
at 6–13 (opinion dissenting from denial of certiorari). Peti-
tioner L. M. plainly did not create a “materia[l] dis-
rupt[ion],” Tinker, 393 U. S., at 513, by wearing t-shirts
reading “There Are Only Two Genders”—and, later, after
his school barred that shirt—“There Are CENSORED Gen-
ders,” 103 F. 4th 854, 860 (2024). In holding otherwise, the
First Circuit distorted this Court’s First Amendment case
law in significant ways that warrant this Court’s review. I
therefore join J
USTICE ALITO’s opinion and respectfully dis-
sent from the denial of certiorari.

1 Cite as: 605 U. S. ____ (2025)
A
LITO, J., dissenting
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
L. M., A MINOR, BY AND THROUGH HIS FATHER AND
STEPMOTHER AND NATURAL GUARDIANS
, CHRISTOPHER
AND SUSAN MORRISON v. TOWN OF
MIDDLEBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS,
ET AL.
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED
STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
No. 24–410. Decided May 27, 2025
JUSTICE ALITO, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS joins, dis-
senting from the denial of certiorari.
This case presents an issue of great importance for our
Nation’s youth: whether public schools may suppress stu-
dent speech either because it expresses a viewpoint that the
school disfavors or because of vague concerns about the
likely effect of the speech on the school atmosphere or on
students who find the speech offensive. In this case, a mid-
dle school permitted and indeed encouraged student ex-
pression endorsing the view that there are many genders.
But when L. M., a seventh grader, wore a t-shirt that said
“There Are Only Two Genders,” he was barred from attend-
ing class. And when he protested this censorship by block-
ing out the words “Only Two” and substituting
“CENSORED,” the school prohibited that shirt as well.
The First Circuit held that the school did not violate
L. M.’s free-speech rights. It held that the general prohibi-
tion against viewpoint-based censorship does not apply to
public schools. And it employed a vague, permissive, and
jargon-laden rule that departed from the standard this
Court adopted in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Com-
munity School Dist., 393 U. S. 503 (1969).
The First Circuit’s decision calls out for our review.

2 L. M. v. MIDDLEBOROUGH
A
LITO, J., dissenting
I
A
In March of 2023, L. M. was a seventh grader at Nichols
Middle School (NMS or the School) in Middleborough, Mas-
sachusetts. Inside and outside the classroom, NMS pro-
motes the view that gender is a fluid construct and that a
person’s self-defined identity—not biological sex—deter-
mines whether that person is male, female, or something
else. See App. to Pet. for Cert. 98a–99a, 125a–126a. NMS
also encourages students to embrace and express this view-
point, including during the school’s “PRIDE Spirit Week.”
Id., at 119a; see also id., at 101a–102a.
L. M., however, sees things differently. His “understand-
ing of basic biology” has led him to believe that “there are
only two sexes, male and female, and that a person’s gender
. . . is inextricably tied to sex.” Id., at 90a. Nor is L. M.
alone in this regard. Several of his peers take issue with
NMS’s position on questions of human identity, sex, and
gender, but they remain silent due to the social conse-
quences of disagreeing with the School’s authority figures.
Id., at 99a–100a, 126a.
To register his dissent and start a dialogue on the topic,
L. M. wore a shirt to school that read, “There Are Only Two
Genders.” 103 F. 4th 854, 860 (CA1 2024). But NMS cen-
sored L. M.’s speech no sooner than it started.
The school principal removed L. M. from his first-period
gym class after a teacher called to report the shirt. The
teacher expressed concern for the “physical safety” of the
student body and claimed that “multiple members of the
LGBTQ+ population at NMS . . . would be impacted by the
t-shirt message” and could “potentially disrupt classes.”
Joint App. in No. 23–1535 etc. (CA1), p. 86. After haling
L. M. into her office, the principal explained that other stu-
dents had “complained” that the shirt “made them upset.”
App. to Pet. for Cert. 103a, 127a. She then told L. M. that
he could not return to class unless he changed clothes.

3 Cite as: 605 U. S. ____ (2025)
A
LITO, J., dissenting
L. M. declined, so he was sent home.
A week and a half later, L. M.’s father emailed the super-
intendent of the Middleborough Public School System and
inquired why his son could not wear the “Two Genders”
shirt. L. M.’s father noted that the shirt was not “directed
to any particular person” and “simply stated [L. M.’s] view
on a . . . topic that is being discussed in social media,
schools, and churches all across our country.” Id., at 121a.
He also pointed out that many NMS students make political
statements “every day” through “their choice of clothes,
pins, posters, and speech.” Ibid.; see, e.g., Reply Brief 12
(NMS social-media post featuring a student wearing a shirt
that reads, “HE SHE THEY IT’S ALL OKAY”). L. M.’s fa-
ther explained that L. M. just wanted to do the same. In
response, the superintendent explained that the shirt vio-
lated the school dress code by “target[ing] students of a pro-
tected class; namely in the area of gender identity.” App. to
Pet. for Cert. 122a.
Frustrated that he was not allowed to express his views
on an issue of personal and national concern—especially
when other students and NMS officials routinely espouse
the opposite position during school hours—L. M. wore a re-
dacted version of the shirt in protest. It read: “There Are
CENSORED Genders.” 103 F. 4th, at 860. But this shirt
fared no better. Moments after L. M. arrived to his first
class, he was summoned to the principal’s office and told
that the “CENSORED” shirt was also banned. Rather than
miss another day of school, L. M. acquiesced and changed
clothes.
B
L. M., by and through his parents and natural guardians,
filed suit under Rev. Stat. §1979, 42 U. S. C. §1983, in the
District of Massachusetts against the town, school commit-
tee, superintendent, and principal. He alleged violations of

4 L. M. v. MIDDLEBOROUGH
A
LITO, J., dissenting
his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and, as rele-
vant here, claimed that NMS engaged in viewpoint discrim-
ination and breached his free-speech rights under this
Court’s decision in Tinker. Soon after filing the complaint,
L. M. moved for a preliminary injunction.
The District Court denied relief. See 677 F. Supp. 3d 29,
41 (2023). It acknowledged that students retain their First
Amendment rights while at public school. But under
Tinker, the District Court explained, the Constitution al-
lows schools to restrict student expression that (1) “‘mate-
rially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder’”
or (2) “‘inva[des] . . . the rights of others.’” 677 F. Supp. 3d,
at 37 (quoting Tinker, 393 U. S., at 513). The District Court
then concluded that L. M.’s shirts ran afoul of Tinker’s
“rights of others” limitation. With respect to the first shirt,
the court reasoned that the “[s]chool administrators were
well within their discretion to conclude that” gender-
nonconforming students “have a right to attend school with-
out being confronted by messages attacking their identi-
ties,” and L. M.’s “Two Genders” shirt “may communicate
that only two gender identities—male and female—are
valid, and any others are invalid or nonexistent.” 677
F. Supp. 3d, at 38. With respect to the second shirt, the
court found that the NMS administrators “could reasonably
conclude” that the “CENSORED” shirt “did not merely pro-
test censorship but conveyed the ‘censored’ message and
thus invaded the rights of the other students” too. Id., at
39.
At the parties’ request, the District Court converted its
preliminary-injunction decision into a final judgment, and
L. M. appealed. L. M. argued that his expression did not
target or harass any particular student, that NMS admin-
istrators lacked sufficient evidence to reasonably predict
that the shirts would cause a material disruption, and that
NMS could neither suppress his speech for viewpoint-based
reasons nor condone a heckler’s veto of his speech.

5 Cite as: 605 U. S. ____ (2025)
A
LITO, J., dissenting
On appeal, the First Circuit affirmed on an alternative
ground. See 103 F. 4th 854. Instead of holding that the
shirts infringed the “rights of others,” as had the District
Court, the First Circuit relied on the other justification
mentioned in Tinker: speech that “materially disrupts
classwork or involves substantial disorder.” 393 U. S., at
513. The court acknowledged that L. M.’s shirts—like the
black armbands in Tinker—expressed his views “passively,
silently, and without mentioning any specific students.”
103 F. 4th, at 860. But the court saw a material difference
between L. M.’s speech and that of the students in Tinker.
According to the First Circuit, L. M.’s expression—unlike
the speech in Tinker—“demean[ed] characteristics of per-
sonal identity, such as race, sex, religion, or sexual orienta-
tion” that “other students at the school share.” 103 F. 4th,
at 860, 867. After surveying decisions from other Circuits
that have encountered similar situations, the First Circuit
fashioned a bespoke two-pronged test to apply in this con-
text:
“[S]chool officials may bar passive and silently ex-
pressed messages by students at school that target no
specific student if: (1) the expression is reasonably in-
terpreted to demean one of those characteristics of per-
sonal identity, given the common understanding that
such characteristics are unalterable or otherwise
deeply rooted and that demeaning them strike[s] a per-
son at the core of his being; and (2) the demeaning mes-
sage is reasonably forecasted to poison the educational
atmosphere due to its serious negative psychological
impact on students with the demeaned characteristic
and thereby lead to symptoms of a sick school—symp-
toms therefore of substantial disruption.” Id., at 873–
874 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
When both prongs are satisfied, the First Circuit explained,
a court can be confident “that speech is being barred only

6 L. M. v. MIDDLEBOROUGH
A
LITO, J., dissenting
for reasons Tinker permits and not merely because it is ‘of-
fensive’ in the way that a controversial opinion always may
be.” Id., at 874 (citing Tinker, 393 U. S., at 509).
Applying this standard to the facts at hand, the First Cir-
cuit resolved both prongs in favor of the School. Specifi-
cally, it determined (1) that NMS reasonably interpreted
L. M.’s shirts as asserting that anyone who identifies as
anything other than male or female is “‘invalid or nonexist-
ent,’” which would “demean the identity of transgender and
gender-nonconforming NMS students”; and (2) such an af-
front on the very “existence” of these students would “‘ma-
terially disrupt [their] ability to focus on learning.’” 103 F.
4th, at 879–883. In making the latter determination, the
court deferred to the School’s prior experiences with the
“ ‘LGBTQ+ population at NMS,’” particularly “the serious
nature of the struggles, including suicidal ideation, that
some of those students had experienced.” Id., at 882. Given
the “‘vulnerability’” of these students, the court saw no rea-
son to second guess NMS’s prediction that the shirts “would
so negatively affect the[ir] psychology” that their academic
performance and class attendance would decline. Ibid.
Finally, the First Circuit sidestepped L. M.’s viewpoint-
discrimination arguments. Rather than fully engage with
those arguments on the merits, the court, in a footnote,
declined to import this Court’s broader viewpoint-
discrimination jurisprudence into the school context. See
id., at 883, and n. 9; see also id., at 886, n. 11.
II
I would grant the petition for two reasons.
First, we should reaffirm the bedrock principle that a
school may not engage in viewpoint discrimination when it
regulates student speech. Tinker itself made that clear.
See 393 U. S., at 511 (“Clearly, the prohibition of expression
of one particular opinion . . . is not constitutionally permis-
sible”). Curiously, however, the First Circuit declined to

7 Cite as: 605 U. S. ____ (2025)
A
LITO, J., dissenting
follow Tinker in this regard, instead cherry-picking which
First Amendment principles it thought worthy of allowing
through the schoolhouse gates. By limiting the application
of our viewpoint-discrimination cases, the decision below
robs a great many students of that core First Amendment
protection.
Second, we should also grant review to determine
whether the First Circuit properly understood the rule
adopted in Tinker regarding the suppression of student
speech on the ground that it presents a risk of material dis-
ruption. We have described this standard as “demanding.”
Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L., 594 U. S. 180, 193
(2021). But the First Circuit fashioned a rule that is any-
thing but. The lower courts are divided on how to apply
Tinker’s “material disruption” standard in a context like
this one,
1
and the decision below underscores the pressing
need for clarification.
A
“[A]bove all else, the First Amendment means that gov-
ernment has no power to restrict expression because of its
message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.” Police
——————
1
See, e.g., Zamecnik v. Indian Prairie School Dist. No. 204, 636 F. 3d
874, 875 (CA7 2011) (upholding a student’s right to wear a shirt that
read, “Be Happy, Not Gay”); Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School Dist.
No. 204, 523 F. 3d 668, 670 (CA7 2008) (same); Sypniewski v. Warren
Hills Regional Bd. of Educ., 307 F. 3d 243, 246 (CA3 2002) (upholding a
student’s right to wear a shirt “inscribed with ‘redneck’ jokes”); see also
Harper ex rel. Harper v. Poway Unified School Dist., 445 F. 3d 1166, 1171
(CA9 2006) (upholding a school’s ban of a shirt that read,
“HOMOSEXUALITY IS SHAMEFUL”), vacated as moot, 549 U. S. 1262
(2007); Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School Dist. Bd.
of Educ., 109 F. 4th 453, 464 (CA6) (holding that a school could satisfy
Tinker’s material-disruption standard by relying on “common-sense con-
clusions based on human experience” to punish students for the “dehu-
manizing and humiliating effects of non-preferred pronouns” (internal
quotation marks omitted)), reh’g en banc granted, 120 F. 4th 536 (CA6
2024).

8 L. M. v. MIDDLEBOROUGH
A
LITO, J., dissenting
Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U. S. 92, 95 (1972). Other-
wise, the government could purge entire topics from the
public discourse. And as our cases recognize, these
freedom-of-speech harms become “all the more blatant”
when the government “targets not subject matter, but par-
ticular views taken by speakers on a subject.” Rosenberger
v. Rector and Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U. S. 819, 829
(1995).
Nor is there a carveout from this principle for controver-
sial, offensive, or disfavored views. For example, we re-
cently held unconstitutional a statute prohibiting the regis-
tration of “immoral or scandalous” trademarks, explaining
that “a law disfavoring ‘ideas that offend’ ” is “the ‘essence
of viewpoint discrimination.’” Iancu v. Brunetti, 588 U. S.
388, 393, 396 (2019) (quoting Matal v. Tam, 582 U. S. 218,
223, 249 (2017)). Indeed, the presumption against view-
point discrimination is of such importance to our constitu-
tional order that we have even applied it to categories of
speech—like fighting words—that do not enjoy full First
Amendment protection. See R. A. V. v. St. Paul, 505 U. S.
377, 391 (1992). So, for example, Congress could ban all
fighting words, but it could not ban only those fighting
words directed toward Protestants.
Unsurprisingly, the viewpoint-neutrality rule also ap-
plies to student speech. Students do not relinquish their
First Amendment rights at school, see Tinker, 393 U. S., at
506, and by extension, a school cannot censor a student’s
speech merely because it is controversial, see Mahanoy, 594
U. S., at 190. As Tinker itself made clear, the viewpoint-
neutrality rule plays an important role in safeguarding stu-
dents’ First Amendment right to express an “unpopular
viewpoint” at school. 393 U. S., at 509. There, in holding
unconstitutional the decision to prohibit students from
wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, we
emphasized that the school authorities “did not purport to

9 Cite as: 605 U. S. ____ (2025)
A
LITO, J., dissenting
prohibit the wearing of all symbols of political or controver-
sial significance.” Id., at 510. “[S]tudents in some of the
schools wore buttons relating to national political cam-
paigns, and some even wore the Iron Cross, traditionally a
symbol of Nazism.” Ibid. The schools allowed this speech
but not the armbands. We concluded that such viewpoint
discrimination “is not constitutionally permissible.” Id., at
511.
L. M. raised a viewpoint-discrimination argument below.
See Brief for Appellant in No. 23–1535 etc. (CA1), pp. 54–
55, 64. Namely, he argued that NMS had endorsed and fa-
vored the expression of the view that “gender is identity-
based” while “barring [his] contrary view that gender is sex-
based.” Id., at 55. L. M. also noted our recent reaffirmation
of the viewpoint-neutrality principle in cases like Matal v.
Tam and Iancu v. Brunetti. Yet the First Circuit rejected
that important argument in a footnote, stating: “We see no
reason to take up L.M.’s invitation to be, as far as we can
tell, the first court to import recent decisions that clearly
did not contemplate the special characteristics of the
public-school setting into that setting.” 103 F. 4th, at 883,
n. 9 (citing Matal, 582 U. S. 218; Iancu, 588 U. S. 388); see
also 103 F. 4th, at 886, n. 11.
The court below erred, and badly so: the rule that view-
point-based restrictions on speech are almost never allowed
is not a new principle proclaimed only in “recent decisions”
like Matal or Iancu. 103 F. 4th, at 883, n. 9. To the con-
trary, viewpoint neutrality has long been seen as going to
“the very heart of the First Amendment.” Morse v. Freder-
ick, 551 U. S. 393, 423 (2007) (A
LITO, J., concurring); cf.
Rosenberger, 515 U. S., at 829–830. The First Circuit was
wrong to expel this bedrock constitutional safeguard from
our schools.
2
——————
2
See West Virginia Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette, 319 U. S. 624, 642 (1943)
(explaining that teachers and administrators cannot “prescribe what

10 L. M. v. MIDDLEBOROUGH
A
LITO, J., dissenting
B
The First Circuit also watered down the test adopted in
Tinker for determining whether a school’s restriction of stu-
dent speech is allowed. Because free speech is the default
and censorship the exception, Tinker set forth a “demand-
ing standard.” Mahanoy, 594 U. S., at 193. We held that a
school can restrict speech when it has “evidence” that such
restrictions are “necessary” to “avoid material and substan-
tial interference with schoolwork or discipline.”
3
Tinker,
393 U. S., at 511. Thus, absent a “specific showing” of such
a disruption—like “threats or acts of violence on school
premises”—this justification for suppressing student
speech does not apply. Id., at 508, 511.
Under this standard, NMS had no right to censor L. M.
Like the black armbands in Tinker, L. M.’s shirts were a
“silent, passive expression of opinion, unaccompanied by
——————
shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of
opinion”); Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U. S. 675, 681 (1986)
(affirming the “undoubted freedom to advocate unpopular and controver-
sial views in schools and classrooms”); Tinker v. Des Moines Independent
Community School Dist., 393 U. S. 503, 511 (1969) (“In our system, stu-
dents may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which
the State chooses to communicate. They may not be confined to the ex-
pression of those sentiments that are officially approved”); Morse, 551
U. S., at 409 (rejecting the argument that student “speech is proscribable
[when] it is plainly ‘offensive’ ” because “much political and religious
speech might be perceived as offensive to some”); Mahanoy Area School
Dist. v. B. L., 594 U. S. 180, 190 (2021) (“[S]chools have a strong interest
in ensuring that future generations understand the workings in practice
of the well-known aphorism, ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will de-
fend to the death your right to say it’ ”); id., at 210 (A
LITO, J., concurring)
(“Speech cannot be suppressed just because it expresses thoughts or sen-
timents that others find upsetting”); Lee v. Weisman, 505 U. S. 577, 590
(1992) (“To endure the speech of false ideas or offensive content and then
to counter it is part of learning how to live in a pluralistic society, a soci-
ety which insists upon open discourse”).
3
Tinker also carves out student speech that “inva[des] . . . the rights of
others,” 393 U. S., at 513, but the First Circuit did not rely on that aspect
of Tinker.

11 Cite as: 605 U. S. ____ (2025)
A
LITO, J., dissenting
any disorder or disturbance on the part of petitione[r].” Id.,
at 508. And just as in Tinker, some of L. M.’s classmates
found his speech upsetting. Feeling upset, however, is an
unavoidable part of living in our “often disputatious” soci-
ety, and Tinker made abundantly clear that the “mere de-
sire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always
accompany an unpopular viewpoint” is no reason to thwart
a student’s speech. Id., at 509. True, NMS also forecasted
that L. M.’s shirts could lead to a “standoff ” between stu-
dents who support L. M.’s view and those who oppose it.
103 F. 4th, at 880. But the schools in Tinker were similarly
worried that students “would wear arm bands of other col-
ors” and that this could “evolve into something which would
be difficult to control.” 393 U. S., at 509, n. 3 (internal quo-
tation marks omitted). If anything, the risk in Tinker was
far less speculative than in this case. In Tinker, several
students had already “made hostile remarks to the children
wearing armbands,” id., at 508, and a math teacher “had
his lesson period practically ‘wrecked’ chiefly by disputes
with Mary Beth Tinker” over her armband, id., at 517
(Black, J., dissenting). Even so, Tinker deemed the schools’
concern an “undifferentiated fear” that could not “overcome
the right to freedom of expression.” Id., at 508 (majority
opinion).
Instead of applying Tinker’s speech-protective standards,
the court below crafted a novel and permissive test that dis-
torts the “material disruption” rule beyond recognition.
The First Circuit identified a special category of speech, i.e.,
speech that can be interpreted as demeaning a deeply
rooted characteristic of personal identity. And if student
speech, as interpreted by the school, falls into this category,
the school may ban that speech if the school “reasonably
forecast[s]” that it may have a “serious negative psycholog-
ical impact on students with the demeaned characteristic.”
103 F. 4th, at 873–874.

12 L. M. v. MIDDLEBOROUGH
A
LITO, J., dissenting
This rule cannot be squared with Tinker. The black arm-
bands in that case also involved an emotionally charged
topic, and the students in the Des Moines public schools
were not somehow immune from those intense feelings.
Justice Black made precisely this point in his dissent, writ-
ing: “Of course students . . . cannot concentrate on lesser is-
sues when black armbands are being ostentatiously dis-
played in their presence to call attention to the wounded
and dead of the war, some of the wounded and the dead be-
ing their friends and neighbors.” 393 U. S., at 524; see also
id., at 518 (“[T]he armbands . . . took the students’ minds
off their classwork and diverted them to thoughts about the
highly emotional subject of the Vietnam war”). Indeed, a
“former student of one of [the] high schools was killed in
Viet Nam,” and “[s]ome of his friends [were] still in school.”
Id., at 509, n. 3 (majority opinion) (internal quotation
marks omitted). The Tinker Court nevertheless held that
this stress and these distractions did not trump the stu-
dents’ constitutional rights.
The First Circuit’s test dilutes Tinker in other ways too.
To name just a few, it defines “material disruption” to in-
clude anything that correlates with “a decline in students’
test scores, an upsurge in truancy, or other symptoms of a
sick school,” whatever that means. 103 F. 4th, at 870 (in-
ternal quotation marks omitted). That is a highly permis-
sive standard, and it certainly requires far less than that
which Tinker suggested would constitute a “material dis-
ruption.” See 393 U. S., at 508 (“aggressive, disruptive ac-
tion”); ibid. (“threats or acts of violence on school prem-
ises”); ibid. (“group demonstrations”); cf. Mahanoy, 594
U. S., at 192–193.
Further, the First Circuit’s test demands that a federal
court abdicate its responsibility to safeguard students’ First
Amendment rights and instead defer to school officials’ as-
sessment of the meaning and effect of speech. The court
below, for example, deferred to the School administrators’

13 Cite as: 605 U. S. ____ (2025)
A
LITO, J., dissenting
determination that L. M.’s shirts conveyed a message that
demeaned others’ personal identity. 103 F. 4th, at 879–880.
That court also deferred to the administrators’ speculation
about the likely effects of the t-shirts on students—even
though L. M.’s speech resulted in no actual disruptions, and
even though NMS “was not aware of any prior incidents or
problems caused by th[e] [shirts’] message[s].” Id., at 882.
That approach defies Tinker, in which we performed our
own “independent examination of the record” without trust-
ing school administrators’ self-serving observations. 393
U. S., at 509.
Tinker’s “material disruption” standard is demanding by
design. That is because free speech is the rule, not the ex-
ception. The First Circuit’s test flips that principle on its
head.
C
One final point deserves comment. The First Circuit re-
peatedly emphasized that L. M.’s speech occurred in a mid-
dle school where children ranged in age from 10 to 14 years
old—a point respondents echo in their brief in opposition.
That should not make a difference. Mary Beth Tinker was
a 13-year-old student in junior high school, yet the Tinker
Court applied the same “material disruption” test to her as
it did to the 15- and 16-year-old high school petitioners,
John Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt. See id., at 504. If
a school sees fit to instruct students of a certain age on a
social issue like LGBTQ+ rights or gender identity, then the
school must tolerate dissenting student speech on those is-
sues. If anything, viewpoint discrimination in the lower
grades is more objectionable because young children are
more impressionable and thus more susceptible to indoctri-
nation.

14 L. M. v. MIDDLEBOROUGH
A
LITO, J., dissenting
* * *
“The vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is no-
where more vital than in the community of American
schools.” Shelton v. Tucker, 364 U. S. 479, 487 (1960). So
long as the First Circuit’s opinion is on the books, thou-
sands of students will attend school without the full pano-
ply of First Amendment rights. That alone is worth this
Court’s attention. The problem, however, runs deeper: as
this case makes clear, some lower courts are confused on
how to manage the tension between students’ rights and
schools’ obligations. Our Nation’s students, teachers, and
administrators deserve clarity on this critically important
question. Because the Court has instead decided to let the
confusion linger, I respectfully dissent.