On June 29, 2018, Speech First, a national membership group of students, alumni, and others that defends free speech on campus, filed a reply brief in Speech First v. Schlissel in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, supporting its request for a preliminary injunction.
The brief argued:
- The Bias Response Team chills speech. The university claimed the team’s process is “voluntary.” But even “voluntary” programs can violate the First Amendment when they are designed to discourage speech that officials label “bias incidents.”
- Rewriting the speech code after being sued doesn’t end the case. Given the university’s history of trying to ban speech some students find offensive, its one-sided changes to its definitions of banned conduct do not make the case moot.
- Free speech boilerplate isn’t enough. Other speech codes that courts struck down included similar language praising free expression.
Speech First asked the court to rule clearly that the challenged definitions are unconstitutionally overbroad.
Read the full brief below:
