5/1/2025 Reposted statesman.com
A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas accuses the University of Texas, its leadership and Gov. Greg Abbott of suppressing pro-Palestinian free speech and violating First Amendment rights. The suit stems from the arrest of four students during pro-Palestinian protests at the university last year.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in co-counsel with the Muslim Legal Fund of America and local Texas attorneys filed the lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of students arrested at UT on April 24, 2024, for criminal trespass when protesting. Ultimately, the charges against the 57 protesters arrested that day were quickly dropped due to “deficiencies” and lack of probable cause.
“This suit really asserts and protects and will hopefully redeem the students’ rights that unfortunately the state of Texas and its offices violated,” attorney Christina Jump, civil litigation department head for the legal division of the Muslim Legal Fund of America, said in an interview. “The students want to reclaim their narrative and bring the same level of attention to the state of Texas that its leaders brought to these students.”
