Litigation Update: Speech First, Inc. v. Sands

Speech First, Inc. v. Sands concerns a Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) policy that created a bias response team and protocol where students could report bias incidents. Under this policy, reported incidents would be reviewed and possibly reported to the administration for a formal reprimand. In 2021, Speech First, Inc., a group that focuses on students' freedom of speech on university campuses, filed suit against Virginia Tech on behalf of several students for chilling their right to speech through the bias incident policies. The district court hearing the case ruled in favor of Virginia Tech finding that the Bias Incident policy didn’t specifically outline any particular speech that was chilled for the students being represented and thus the policy wasn’t found to chill speech. In 2022, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the lower court's decision. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case, gave judgment with respect to the Bias Policy claims vacated, and remanded the case to the 4th Circuit with instructions to dismiss those claims as moot under United States v. Munsingwear, Inc. Multiple Justices, including Justices Thomas and Alito, filed dissents. Join us for a litigation update on this important case in light of those developments. Featuring: Abigail Smith, Amicus Attorney, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (Moderator) Tyson Langhofer, Senior Counsel, Director of Center for Academic Freedom, Alliance Defending Freedom