Judge says campus protest rules violate speech, religious freedom: First Amendment doesn’t have bedtime

A district judge on Tuesday ruled the University of Texas system’s (UT) new protest rules restricting “expressive activity” after 10 p.m. is unconstitutional.

Reagan-appointed Judge David Alan Ezra said the rule was too vague and could be used to prohibit religious activity such as an evening or early morning Easter church service, since the songs and prayers could be classified as disruptive. The case was brought on by the Fellowship of Christian University Students at the University of Texas at Dallas, Young Americans for Liberty and several music groups.

“The First Amendment does not have a bedtime of 10:00 p.m.,” Ezra wrote in the court opinion. “The burden is on the government to prove that its actions are narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest. It has not done so.”

UT implemented the new restrictions in response to a state law passed in June requiring universities to adopt “reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of expressive activities of students enrolled at and employees of the institution in the common outdoor areas of the institution’s campus.” However, the bill requires the restrictions to be “narrowly tailored to serve a significant institutional interest,” which the court argues UT’s rules failed to achieve.

The law also requires universities in the state to prohibit the use of amplified sound to intimidate others or disrupt university activities. UT’s policy states that “Drums or other musical or percussive instruments” may in some cases be considered disruptive and therefore prohibited.

The judge’s order temporarily halts the system from enforcing the policy.

The university system did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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