UT System will push to enforce campus protest bans that judge temporarily blocked

The University of Texas System has signaled it will seek full enforcement of a new state law limiting protests on college campuses, pushing against a federal judge’s decision to temporarily block parts of the legislation.

U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra on Oct. 14 said the student groups who brought the case are likely to succeed on their claims that Senate Bill 2972 — which bans overnight expression and puts limits on speakers, amplified sounds and drums during the last two weeks of the semester — violates their First Amendment rights and would be irreparably harmed without relief. He wrote that the clause added to the law by the Legislature instructing universities to uphold the First Amendment "does not change the fact that the statute then requires universities to adopt policies t