Meriwether v. Hartop

Nicholas Meriwether (plaintiff) was a professor at Shawnee State University (SSU) (defendant), a public university in Ohio. Under SSU’s gender-identity policy, professors were required to refer to students by their preferred pronouns. One of Meriwether’s students, Doe, a biological male, asked to be referred to with female pronouns in accordance with her gender identity. Meriwether refused, stating that using pronouns that did not match a person’s biological sex violated his Christian beliefs. Doe raised objections with SSU’s administration, and Meriwether was disciplined. Meriwether sued SSU, arguing that SSU punishing Meriwether for refusing to use Doe’s preferred pronouns violated Meriwether’s First Amendment right to free speech. Specifically, Meriwether argued that his right to freely speak about matters of great public concern, such as the gender-identity debate, was protected by the academic-freedom exception, which was an exception to the general rule that public employees, like Meriwether, could be disciplined for statements made during the performance of their duties. SSU countered, arguing that (1) the academic-freedom exception applied only to ideological speech, such as lecturing, not ministerial speech, such as using a student’s correct name and pronouns, and (2) SSU’s interest in protecting transgender students from discrimination outweighed Meriwether’s free-speech interest. The district court dismissed Meriwether’s action. Meriweather appealed to the Sixth Circuit.