Student suspended for wearing anti-Bush T-shirt to high school
Bretton Barber, a junior at Dearborn High School in Michigan, was sent home in February 2003 after wearing a T-shirt depicting President George W. Bush as an 'International Terrorist.' Represented by the ACLU, he won a federal court ruling in October 2003 that the school violated his First Amendment rights.
On February 17, 2003, Dearborn High School junior Bretton Barber wore a T-shirt to school showing President Bush's face above the words 'International Terrorist' to protest the looming invasion of Iraq. An assistant principal told him to turn the shirt inside out or go home; he chose to go home. The ACLU of Michigan sued the district. In Barber v. Dearborn Public Schools, 286 F. Supp. 2d 847 (E.D. Mich. 2003), Judge Patrick J. Duggan ruled the shirt did not cause substantial disruption under Tinker and the school's action violated Barber's First Amendment rights.