New Supreme Court Decisions Protect Free Speech on Campus

-Source-National Review- While they do not directly involve campus speech they should further entrench its freedom. The Supreme Court did not hear any campus-speech cases in its just-concluded 201718 term but it was still a year with several big First Amendment decisions. How will these decisions affect higher education (and courts that are currently hearing campus-speech cases)? Three of the Courts decisions should help to clarify protections for freedom of expression and association on public-university campuses allowing proactive universities to bolster the rights of students and faculty. Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky: Minnesota prohibited voters from wearing political badges buttons or insignia inside a polling place. All states have laws similarly restricting polling-place advocacy such as expressly advocating for a candidate next to the ballot box. But Minnesota went further. It extended the definition of political" to prohibit any items referencing any subject on which a political party or candidate has taken a stance" or any item promoting a group with recognizable political views." In practice the poll workers had broad discretion to censor a voters clothing bearing even benign messages such as Vote!" or Support Our Troops" and clothing that merely bore the insignia of organizations or companies with expressed political positions from the ACLU to Ben & Jerrys. The Courts decision: The Supreme Court held that while states may limit expression in a polling place they must draw a reasonable line." Minnesota election judges had such broad discretion to determine which expression was permissible that there was no real objective standard at all. The Court held that if a state restricts speech in a non-public forum such as a polling place the discretion provided to government officials in enforcing that restriction must be guided by objective workable standards" because without them an election judges own politics may shape his views on what counts as political." Campus speech impact: The Mansky decision means that universities must not only avoid viewpoint discrimination; they must affirmatively enact policies eliminating the discretion that could allow it.