On September 23, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in Speech First v. Schlissel. Speech First, a national membership group of students, alumni, and others that defends free speech on campus, had challenged the University of Michigan’s policy banning bullying and harassing behavior and its Bias Response Team, arguing that both threatened protected speech through rules that were too broad and too vague.
The trial court refused to block the policy and the team, ruling that Speech First lacked “standing” to challenge the Bias Response Team and that its challenge to the policy was moot. The appeals court disagreed, vacated the trial court’s decision, and sent the case back for further proceedings.
Read the court’s decision below:
