A federal appeals court will take a second look at whether West Texas A&M University can ban drag shows, setting aside an earlier ruling that found the university’s ban likely violated students’ free speech rights.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday tossed a 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel issued in August and agreed to rehear the case before the court’s 17 active judges.
The panel’s earlier decision had sided with the student group Spectrum WT, which is represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, after university President Walter Wendler canceled a campus drag show in 2023. The panel majority said the students would’ve likely engaged in protected expression, pointing to their drag show’s context as a ticketed event organized by a LGBTQ+ student group to raise money for a suicide prevention charity, and that the venue, Legacy Hall, was a public forum.
It’s not yet clear whether the university plans to resume banning drag shows while the case is under review. A West Texas A&M spokesperson declined to comment Monday.
“Our clients will keep fighting for their First Amendment rights and those of all public university students to express themselves on campus free of the government’s heavy hand of censorship,” said JT Morris, FIRE supervising senior attorney.
The court’s eventual decision could also influence a separate lawsuit filed by the Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council, a student group at Texas A&M University in College Station, which is challenging a systemwide prohibition on drag performances. The Texas A&M System asked the Fifth Circuit to pause that case until it decides the West Texas A&M appeal.
The full court has tentatively scheduled oral arguments for the week of Jan. 19.
See here for more on the West Texas A&M case, and here, here, and here for more on the original case. It’s never great when a positive ruling from a three-judge panel gets an en banc review, but here we are. This is a clear cut First Amendment case, and I do have hope that Court, as perverse as it is, will see that. We’ll know soon enough.