Good.
A federal judge in Austin has temporarily blocked key parts of Texas’ new law limiting expression on campuses, halting the University of Texas System’s enforcement of a ban on overnight expression and limits on speakers, amplified sounds and drums during the last two weeks of the semester.
U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra on Oct. 14 said the student groups who brought the case are likely to succeed on their claims that Senate Bill 2972 violates their First Amendment rights and would be irreparably harmed without relief. He wrote that the clause added to the law by the Legislature instructing universities to uphold the First Amendment “does not change the fact that the statute then requires universities to adopt policies that violate those very constitutional protections.”
“The Court cannot trust the universities to enforce their policies in a constitutional way while Plaintiffs are left in a state of uncertainty, chilling their speech for fear that their expressive conduct may violate the law or university policies,” Ezra wrote.
UT System spokesperson Ben Wright said in a statement the system cannot comment on the lawsuit but added that it “complies with the law and court orders.” Brandon Creighton, SB 2972’s author, said in a statement that his legislation strengthens free speech protections on college campuses by fostering a culture of openness while also protecting students, faculty and campus property from disruption by outside groups.
“The ruling represents only a temporary stay by one judge, and I’m confident the law will ultimately be upheld,” said Creighton, who resigned from the Texas Senate on Oct. 2 to become Texas Tech University System’s chancellor.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sued the University of Texas System in federal court on Sept. 3 to block SB 2972, which creates rules for campus protests and gives university systems’ governing boards the power to limit where they can take place.
FIRE attorneys argue that the state law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments because it bans protected expression from students and university employees on campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.
“The First Amendment doesn’t set when the sun goes down,” said FIRE attorney JT Morris in September. “University students have expressive freedom whether it’s midnight or midday, and Texas can’t just legislate those constitutional protections out of existence.”
See here for the background and here for a copy of the opinion. I’m sorry, but cases like this are not close calls, and if the Fifth Circuit and/or SCOTUS don’t see it that way then the Constitution is written on toilet paper. Good thing we’ve got all those “free speech warriors” out there defending it, am I right? Sheesh. Texas Public Radio has more.