Speech First, Inc. v. Cartwright

The University of Central Florida (UCF), a public university, had policies prohibiting (1) discriminatory harassment and (2) bias-related incidents. Among other things, the discriminatory-harassment policy barred verbal or physical conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, used religious, political, or genetic affiliation to “unreasonably” alter another student’s “participation” in a university program or activity. The policy also prohibited students from condoning, encouraging, or failing to intervene to stop the listed conduct. The bias-related-incident policy allowed anonymous complaints that a student had engaged in “hate or bias” conduct, which was defined as “offensive” conduct that, even if legal and unintentional, was directed at others based on characteristics such as religious, political, or genetic affiliation. A task force, the Just Knights Response Team, responded to bias complaints, coordinating interventions with affected parties if necessary. Three UCF students refrained from expressing their political and religious viewpoints on campus, concerned that expressing their arguably unpopular views would violate one or both policies. The withheld statements included: abortion was immoral, the government should not force religious organizations to recognize all marriages, affirmative action was unfair, a man could not become a woman by feeling like one, and illegal immigration was dangerous. The students belonged to Speech First, Inc. (plaintiff), an organization concerned with students’ free-speech rights. Speech First sued UCF’s president, Alexander Cartwright, and another UCF official (defendants) in federal district court, alleging that both policies violated the First Amendment. Speech First requested a preliminary injunction preventing UCF from enforcing the policies during the lawsuit. Relying on the Tinker standard, which evaluates whether a speech restriction is needed to prevent substantial disruption of school operations, the district court denied the injunction. Speech First appealed.