Court holds Texas law to limit college campus demonstrations

District Court Judge David Alan Ezra on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction against a state law regulating campus demonstrations. In issuing the temporary measure, the judge sided with student groups, including one Christian organization, who argued the law violated their free speech rights. State Sen. Brandon Creighton promoted the law as a response to widespread pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country. The Texas Tech University System named Creighton as its new chancellor and CEO. Texas lawmakers in June adopted the so-called Campus Protection Act and Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law later that month.

What restrictions would the new law impose? The law prohibits demonstrations and protests from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. It also reserves so-called expressive free speech activities for school students or employees rather than individuals unaffiliated with the institution. Finally, the legislation also bars participants from wearing disguises and setting up living accommodations on campus, and demonstrations were prohibited during finals week.

What did the temporary ruling this week say? Ezra ruled in favor of students and organizations that claimed the measure violated the First Amendment, and he said they would likely suffer harm if the law remained in place. He also said the law was too broad and gave school and law enforcement officials the freedom to determine what speech qualified as disruptive, and the opportunity to use the law to disrupt speech with which they disagree. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in September filed a lawsuit on behalf of a collection of student campus groups, including the Fellowship of Christian University Students at the University of Texas at Dallas. The advocacy organization cheered Ezra’s temporary ruling and said the law could have been weaponized to censor students.

Dig deeper: Read Erin Hawley’s opinion piece about the controversy over a Texas A&M course that taught gender ideology.