In 2023, a 13-year-old junior high boy from California went to a football game to cheer on his friends at a rival school. Like every single football player on the field, the boy put eye black on his face to show his team spirit. When he got back home, his school suspended him for two days for “racism.”

Now, a District Court judge appointed by Joe Biden has ruled that the First Amendment does not apply to this child, identified only as “A.J.” in court papers.

When he got back to Muirland Middle School the following Monday, A.J. was informed that he was being suspended for two days for wearing blackface and engaging in “racist” behavior. To be clear, he put eye black on his cheeks and chin, leaving his mouth, nose, eyes, and forehead clear. And again—every single football player on both teams was also wearing eye black.

A.J.’s parents sued, trying to get the two-day suspension stricken from his school record. District Court Judge Linda Lopez ruled last week that the family is unlikely to prevail on First Amendment grounds. She insisted in her ruling that the First Amendment only applies to clothing or insignias where “an unmistakable communication is being made.”

Since when? The last time we checked, courts have consistently ruled that things like burning the flag, donating money to political campaigns, and posting pictures of your butthole on the internet are free expressions protected by the First Amendment. But a child wearing face paint at a football game is suddenly not protected speech, because some liberal snowflake complained that it was “blackface?”

The family’s attorney believes that A.J. will eventually prevail in the courts. It’s just sad that the family has to go through this nonsense because Joe Biden has appointed such terrible judges to the bench.

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