A Texas Tech University law student, reported to the state bar by the school for allegedly celebrating Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination, may be entitled to monetary damages but not cancellation of her disciplinary record, a federal judge said. <\/p>\n
Ellen Fisher\u2019s First Amendment challenge fails because Dean Jack Nowlin had already notified the State Bar of Texas of her reprimand at the time she filed suit, Judge Brantley Starr<\/a> of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled.<\/p>\n Fisher\u2019s requested relief, Starr said, is largely limited to actions that have yet to occur under a narrow exception to government immunity that provides no means to undo past actions.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no future or ongoing action by the defendants to enjoin,\u201d Starr wrote in a Tuesday opinion<\/a>, adding that there\u2019s no indication the school will prevent Fisher from graduating and, even if it did, she isn\u2019t seeking relief to stop it from trying.<\/p>\n Fisher, nearing graduation as a third-year law student, received a written letter of reprimand for what Texas Tech says was an honor code violation for celebrating the conservative political activist\u2019s murder on the day of his shooting last September. <\/p>\n Kirk\u2019s killing, allegedly by a then-22-year-old Tyler Robinson<\/a>, touched off a spate of condemnation for those perceived to have cheered his demise\u2014including attorneys, entertainers, and public employees<\/a>\u2014followed by lawsuits filed by some of those punished for espousing such views.<\/p>\n According to Fisher\u2019s suit, some witnesses alleged she used profanity to describe Kirk and commented, \u201cI\u2019m in the best mood ever\u201d and \u201cThey got him … this is great.\u201d Other witnesses said they didn\u2019t hear her celebrate his death.<\/p>\n She might still have a case, Starr said, by asserting civil rights violations and seeking monetary damages against individual university defendants who participated in her disciplinary finding.<\/p>\n Fisher is represented by Mansfield & Mansfield PC and Allen Harris PLLC.<\/p>\n Texas Tech is represented by the Texas Attorney General\u2019s office.<\/p>\n