In a scathing 161-page ruling, U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston sided with groups representing university faculty, finding that the administration was chilling free speech on college campuses in violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment.
“They did so in order to strike fear into similarly situated non-citizen pro-Palestinian individuals, pro-actively (and effectively) curbing lawful pro-Palestinian speech and intentionally denying such individuals (including the plaintiffs here) the freedom of speech that is their right,“ Young wrote. Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, said the government’s actions were in keeping with Trump’s broader efforts to limit free speech, targeting law firms, universities and media outlets.
In his ruling, Young blasted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for having agents mask up before arresting some people, saying it was doing so for a “single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence.”
Young said he would determine what remedy to impose at a later point in the case, which he called perhaps the most important his court ever heard.
“The administration’s ideological deportations dishonor the First Amendment and democracy,“ Ramya Krishnan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.
CASE CHALLENGED IMMIGRATION POLICY
In those cases and others, judges have ordered the release of students detained by immigration authorities after they argued the administration retaliated against them for their pro-Palestinian advocacy in violation of their First Amendment free-speech rights.
In a separate case, the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was due on Tuesday to hear arguments in the administration’s challenges to court rulings that led to the release of Ozturk and pro-Palestinian Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration custody.
The three-judge panel set to hear the arguments includes two judges appointed by Trump during his first term, Circuit Judges William Nardini and Steven Menashi. The third, Chief Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston, was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush.
Trump signed executive orders in January directing federal agencies to “vigorously” combat anti-Semitism in the wake of protests that roiled college campuses nationwide after Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. In ruling against the administration, Young in an unusual move included in his ruling a copy of a threatening message he received had received via a postcard from an anonymous sender that read, “Trump has pardons and tanks .... what do you have?”
“Alone, I have nothing but my sense of duty,“ Young replied in his ruling. “Together, We the People of the United States –- you and me -- have our magnificent Constitution. Here’s how that works out in a specific case.” - Reuters
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