UC Berkeley must face lawsuit alleging bias against conservative speakers
UC Berkeley must face lawsuit alleging bias against
conservative speakers
By Jonathan Stempel Reuters • April 26, 2018
(Reuters) - A federal judge rejected the University of
California at Berkeley's bid to dismiss a lawsuit claiming it discriminated
against conservative speakers like Ann Coulter by imposing unreasonable
restrictions and fees on their appearances.
In a decision late Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Maxine
Chesney in San Francisco said two conservative groups could pursue claims that
the school applied its policy for handling "major events" and an
earlier policy for "high-profile speakers" in a manner that unfairly
suppressed conservative speech.
But the judge also said she was "unpersuaded"
by claims by the plaintiffs that the school engaged in intentional viewpoint
discrimination, and that the major events policy was too vague. She said the
plaintiffs could not seek punitive damages.
The Berkeley College Republicans and the Young America's
Foundation, a Tennessee group, had sued after the university canceled Coulter's
scheduled speech last April 27, citing security concerns.
Janet Napolitano, president of the University of
California, was also named as a defendant.
UC Berkeley is known as the birthplace of the student-led
Free Speech Movement of the 1960s. Like other schools, it has tried to welcome
different views without jeopardizing safety or its educational mission.
The major events policy was adopted in July, and gave
school officials discretion to take various steps to ensure security.
Chesney said the plaintiffs may pursue an equal
protection claim over a security fee charged for an appearance by conservative
commentator Ben Shapiro that was well above a fee at the same venue for Supreme
Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, part of the court's liberal bloc.
In a statement on Thursday, UC Berkeley said it was
pleased with Chesney's "core" ruling upholding the major events
policy, and denied having previously had a "secret" policy for
high-profile speakers. It also called the roughly $9,000 fee charged for the
Shapiro appearance "lawful and appropriate."
Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, also
welcomed the decision.
"It is good news that the case is going
forward," Dhillon said in a telephone interview on Thursday. "The
First Amendment is a core constitutional principle, and every government policy
that restricts, censors or bars otherwise legal speech is unconstitutional."
The case is Young America's Foundation et al v Napolitano
et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 17-02255.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by
David Gregorio and Dan Grebler)
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