Judge grants Palestinian Solidarity Committee standing to sue UT for free speech violations

A federal judge in Austin has granted pro-Palestinian student groups at several Texas universities standing to pursue a sweeping lawsuit against their institutions' presidents and board members for alleged viewpoint discrimination and for First Amendment violations.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman found that the plaintiffs have "sufficiently pled injury" regarding university policies that comply with Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order in March limiting antisemitic speech and with university leaders' actions limiting pro-Palestinian speech.

"The Court finds that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim ... that the GA-44-compliant university policies impose impermissible viewpoint discrimination that chills speech in violation of the First Amendment," Pitman said in an order Monday, referring to Abbott's executive order charging public colleges to enforce free speech policies against pro-Palestinian student organizations and adopt a definition of antisemitism, which the judge said limits legal anti-Israel speech.