Judge dismisses Florida pro-Palestinian student groups’ free speech lawsuits against DeSantis

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed two free speech lawsuits brought by pro-Palestine university student groups in Florida against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his administration, which sent a memo ordering universities to deactivate the student groups in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker denied the students’ request for a preliminary injunction, however, ruling that the memo — which was sent from the chancellor of the board of governors on Nov. 9 — has not been enforced and that “the record demonstrates that neither deactivation nor criminal investigation is imminent.”

Walker further said that the chancellor has acknowledged that the memo “incorrectly described” the pro-Palestine student chapters as affiliated with the National Students for Justice (SJP) in Palestine, and, “thus, it is not clear whether the memorandum even continues to apply to Plaintiff.”

“This Court finds that no actions have been taken in pursuit of deactivation under the Chancellor’s memorandum. And, as this Court has already found, the Defendants with legal authority to directly regulate registered student organizations do not intend to deactivate Plaintiff,” the judge wrote.

“Plaintiff has proffered no record evidence demonstrating that the University of South Florida has taken any action based on the Chancellor’s statements on November 9th.”

Walker also found that there was no evidence that the students’ speech had been “chilled” or that there had been reputational harm done.

In a statement, Brian Hauss, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), called on the chancellor to remove the memo from his official website if in fact he does not intend to enforce it.

“Florida officials are now on notice that if they attempt to enforce the deactivation order, we will be back in court to uphold our client’s First Amendment rights,” Hauss wrote in a statement. “The Chancellor should formally acknowledge that the deactivation order will not be enforced by removing it from his official website.”

Interim Executive Director Howard Simon of the ACLU of Florida echoed that sentiment, writing, “The Deactivation Order should be withdrawn — it should never have been issued — because it violates the free speech rights of university students and the important role that universities play in American life to vigorously debate all social issues free from censorship.”

The case marks a win for DeSantis and comes at a time of heightened tension on college campuses as schools seek to strike the right balance between free speech and protecting their students.

The judge acknowledged in his dual rulings that, even if the student chapters do not risk deactivation — and therefore, he argued, lack standing for a preliminary injunction — they still are reasonably concerned about being targeted by the governor, he said.

“This Court does not fault Plaintiff’s members for feeling anxious about the fact that the Governor — arguably the most powerful man in Florida — has repeatedly disparaged Plaintiff’s members as ‘terrorists’ who support ‘jihad’ and repeated the falsehood that their organization has been ‘deactivated,’” Walker wrote, referring to DeSantis’s comments about the pro-Palestine student groups.

“But this Court rejects counsel’s suggestion that it should find, in the absence of other evidence, that Plaintiff has standing simply because someone cloaked with great power makes coercive statements that cause college students to fear some hypothetical future harm. Plaintiff’s argument stretches the injury-in-fact requirement beyond the boundaries that case law has established for standing in First Amendment pre-enforcement challenges. This Court is not free to exceed those boundaries,” he wrote.