Two college chapters of the group Students for Justice in Palestine had their first day in court Friday for their lawsuit against Governor Ron DeSantis and the state university system.
The hearing was centered on whether the court should consider accusations that DeSantis and other officials worked to freeze free speech from group members of the University of Florida and University of South Florida chapters.
A memorandum released in October by the State University System Chancellor, and DeSantis ally, Ray Rodrigues called for Students for Justice in Palestine chapters in Florida must be deactivated. No university has followed the order so far, but attorneys representing the student groups argue in court filings that the order had a free speech chilling effect on their organizations and its members.
The Friday hearing centered on whether the federal court had the jurisdiction to hear the case at all. Attorneys for the state university system argue since none of the groups were suspended, there are no damages. However, SJP’s representatives say the fact that the order has not been rescinded means it is a hanging threat over the organization.
Brian Hauss is representing the University of Florida’s SJP chapter and is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU. He says the memorandum from Rodrigues is chilling the free speech of students across Florida.
“I think that the best evidence that these students have a reasonable fear, is the fact that the deactivation order has not been rescinded by the chancellor, and you heard in court today, we asked whether defendants would commit not to enforcing the order, and after we asked that question, defendants rested on their papers, they would not and they continue to refuse to disavow that order and that is why we think the harm remains imminent,” he said.
While the order hasn’t been rescinded, it has been walked back partially by the university system. In a November meeting of the state university systems’ leadership, Rodrigues said the university system is no longer looking to remove the organizations but is working with the universities to get the organizations to denounce Hamas.
“Within that affirmation will be three components, that they reject violence, that they reject that they are part of the Hamas movement, and that they will follow the law,” he said.
While he was still running for president, DeSantis bragged about suspending the groups during several press stops. SJP’s legal counsel argued his calls to remove the groups contributed to the chilling effect. But DeSantis’ attorneys say his criticism of the group was just political posturing because none of the groups had been shuttered.
The judge did not issue a decision in the hearing today, but his decision about whether the case will proceed to trial should come within the coming days.