AUSTIN, Texas — On Oct. 14, U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra issued a temporary injunction against parts of Texas’ new law that limits expression on campuses.
The University of Texas System’s restrictions on expression, including overnight activities, speakers, sounds and drums, during the semester’s last two weeks will be suspended by the injunction.
In the lawsuit, Ezra argues that the law goes against students’ First Amendment rights.
“Plaintiffs allege that the Overnght Expression Ban and End-of-Term Bans threaten their protected expression,” Ezra wrote.
A lawsuit was filed on Sept. 3 by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) “on behalf of student musicians, journalists, political organizers, and religious students.” The lawsuit aimed to prevent the enforcement of Senate Bill 2972.
SB 2972, which imposes a ban on “expressive activities” at public universities, went into effect on Sept. 1. The bill bans the activities between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
The new law, according to FIRE, will grant universities the right to penalize students at night for activities such as wearing political hats, writing an op-ed, attending candlelight vigils and more.
“This law gives campus administrators a blank check to punish speech, and that authority will inevitably be used to target unpopular speech,” said FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh. “Administrators have plenty of ways to prevent disruptive conduct that do not involve such a broad censorship mandate.”
SB 2972, passed in the regular session this year, reversed a 2019 Texas law about free speech on campuses.
The full injunction can be found below.