Speech First, a national membership group of students, alumni, and others that defends free speech on campus, filed this opening brief in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. It asks the appeals court to reverse a lower court’s refusal to block the University of Michigan’s speech policies while the case goes on.
The brief makes two main arguments. First, Michigan changed its rules on “harassment” and “bullying” only after Speech First sued, in an effort to end the case without a ruling. Because nothing stops the university from bringing the old rules back, the case is not moot. Second, the university’s Bias Response Team chills speech. Students reported for “bias incidents” can have the report logged online, be investigated, be asked to meet with officials, and be referred for discipline.
As the brief puts it, “this case presents important and novel questions about the state of free-speech protections on college campuses. It is the first case to challenge the constitutionality of a ‘bias response team,’ an increasingly popular but constitutionally dubious tool that one federal judge has dubbed the campus ‘civility police.’”
Read the full brief below:
