Attorney General Alan Wilson leads 2 different multistate efforts to defend students' free speech

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson led two different multistate amicus briefs aimed at defending students' freedom of speech.

"Students have the right to respectfully share their beliefs and opinions at school and must not be compelled to speak or accept beliefs they do not hold. The classroom is one of the main places where students learn to disagree civilly and form their own opinions of the world,” said Attorney General Alan Wilson. “It's troubling when speech is unlawfully restricted, but it's dangerous when only one type of speech, or one belief system, is censored. We're fighting back because students deserve the chance to express themselves, and if they can't learn how to disagree amicably as children, they’ll grow into adults whose only solution to conflict is censorship and personal attacks to the other side.”

Working with the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Attorney General Wilson is supporting a group of students in an Ohio school district who are fighting against a district pronoun policy. The pronoun policy applies to students even off campus and out-of-school hours. Attorney General Wilson's position is the policy is unlawful because it compels speech and forces students to affirm beliefs they do not hold.

The brief, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, argues, “The Policies unconstitutionally compel students to speak the Board’s views on gender. The Policies thus contravene a ‘fixed star in our constitutional constellation’: ‘no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.’”

The second coalition led by Attorney General Wilson relates to unlawfully restricting students' speech in a Massachusetts school. A student was barred from wearing a shirt that stated, "There are only two genders," because the school said it was considered hate speech and violated the dress code. The student then wore a modified version of the shirt that stated, "There are only censored genders." The school again said he violated the dress code and prohibited him from wearing the shirt.

The brief, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, argues “Speech that is merely offensive to a listener is not enough to justify a restriction. After all, if ‘there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable. And ‘much political and religious speech might be perceived as offensive to some.’”

Attorney General Wilson continues, “Nothing in the Constitution excludes students from the right to free speech. Nothing in the First Amendment says free speech for everyone but students.”

In the Ohio amicus brief, Attorney General Wilson and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost led Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia on the amicus brief.

In the Massachusetts brief, Attorney General Wilson led Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

Read the Ohio full brief here.

Read the Massachusetts full brief here.