N.J. by Jacob v. Sonnabend

N.J. (plaintiff) was a student at Shattuck Middle School, a public school in Wisconsin. N.J. had a history of discipline issues, enjoyed hunting and target shooting, and supported the legal right to own firearms. N.J. wore a T-shirt to school that said “Smith & Wesson Firearms Made In The USA Since 1852” with an image of a revolver. The associate principal, David Sonnabend (defendant), told N.J. to cover his shirt because it violated the dress code. N.J. put on a sweatshirt and was not disciplined. A.L. (plaintiff) was a student at nearby Kettle Moraine High School, a public school in Wisconsin experiencing racial tensions. A.L. had a history of wearing a Confederate flag image to school. A.L. wore a T-shirt to school that, on the front, displayed the logo of Wisconsin Carry, Inc., a gun-rights organization, which included a handgun silhouette. The shirt’s back recited the state constitutional provision guaranteeing the right to bear arms. The principal (defendant) told A.L. to cover his shirt for violating the dress code. A.L. zipped up his jacket and was not disciplined. N.J. and A.L. sued the school administrators in federal district court, alleging the clothing restrictions violated their First Amendment rights. The administrators argued the restrictions were necessary because the firearm images disrupted the learning environment. The administrators claimed the images made other students anxious due to each boy’s history and because two separate shootings had occurred just three months earlier in relatively nearby schools. The administrators also presented expert evidence that firearm images could prime viewers to act aggressively. The district court declined to apply the Tinker standard to the restrictions; it instead applied the standard from Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier for evaluating speech restrictions in a nonpublic forum. Under that standard, because the restrictions were content-neutral and reasonably related to the legitimate teaching concerns of reducing student anxiety and preventing aggression, the restrictions were constitutional. The boys appealed.