Federal judge blocks Texas campus speech law overnight ban

A federal judge temporarily blocked key parts of Texas’ new law limiting speech on campuses after dark, preventing the University of Texas System from enforcing an overnight speech ban as well as restrictions on inviting outside speakers and using amplified sounds during the last two weeks of a semester.

U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra said Tuesday that the student groups that filed the lawsuit would likely prevail in their claims that the law violates their First Amendment free speech rights.

“The First Amendment does not set a bedtime of 10 p.m.,” the court ruled. “The government bears the burden of proving that its actions are narrowly tailored to achieving a compelling governmental interest. It has not done so.”

The judge wrote that the clause lawmakers added to the bill ordering universities to uphold the First Amendment “does not change the fact that the law then requires universities to adopt policies that violate those same constitutional protections.”

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A federal judge has temporarily blocked key parts of Texas’ new law limiting speech on campuses after dark. (Fox News)

“The Court cannot trust universities to constitutionally enforce their policies while plaintiffs are left in a state of limbo, chilling their speech for fear that their expressive conduct might violate the law or university policies,” Ezra continued.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed a lawsuit last month against the University of Texas System to block the legislation, which creates rules for campus protests and gives university systems’ boards of trustees the power to limit where they can be held.

FIRE attorneys said the law violates the First and 14th Amendments because it prohibits protected speech on campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Tuesday’s ruling “is a victory not only for our plaintiffs, but for everyone who speaks out on college campuses across Texas,” FIRE lead attorney JT Morris said in a statement. “The First Amendment protects their freedom of speech on campus, any time of the day, every week of the year.”

Ben Wright, a spokesman for the University of Texas system, said in a statement that the system could not comment on the lawsuit but was “complying with the law and court orders.”

SB 2972, authored by former Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton, creates new limits on how people can protest on campus and bans any speech activity at night.

U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra said the student groups that filed the lawsuit would likely prevail in their claims that the law violates their First Amendment free speech rights. (Fox News)

The law, which took effect Sept. 1, essentially rolls back a previous state law passed in 2019 that required all outdoor spaces at state universities to be available as open forums for speech.

In addition to restrictions on speech at night, the law prohibits protesters from using microphones or other devices to amplify sound when demonstrating during class hours or if doing so intimidates others or interferes with campus operations, university employees or peace officers doing their jobs.

Protesters would also be prohibited from building encampments, removing an American flag from an institution to display one of another country or organization and wearing coverings to avoid being identified or to intimidate others.

University employees and students participating in an on-campus protest would also be required to provide proof of their identity and status with the school if a university official inquires.

“Texas law is so broad that any student at a public university chatting in the dorms after 10 p.m. would have been in violation,” said Adam Steinbaugh, senior attorney for FIRE. “We are grateful that the court intervened and ended a speech ban that inevitably would have been used to censor speech that administrators disagreed with.”

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Republican lawmakers pushed for SB 2972 ​​in response to pro-Palestinian protests held last year on campuses across the country. (Jay Janner/American Statesman)

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Republican lawmakers pushed for SB 2972 ​​in response to pro-Palestinian protests held last year on campuses across the country.

Creighton, who resigned from the Texas Senate earlier this month to become chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, said his legislation strengthens protections for free speech on college campuses by promoting openness while protecting students, faculty and campus property from disruption by outside groups.

“The ruling represents only a temporary suspension of a judge, and I am confident that the law will ultimately be upheld,” Creighton said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.