Clinton-Appointed Judge Rules Pro-Palestinian Group Has ‘First Amendment’ Right To Host Oct. 7 Vigil

The University of Maryland (UMD) must allow a pro-Palestinian student group to host a vigil on Oct. 7, a district court ruled Tuesday.

The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter sued UMD in September after the university canceled their event request despite initially approving it, saying in a statement that only “university-sponsored events that promote reflection” would be allowed on Oct.7, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel that began the war in Gaza. The university cited safety concerns and “numerous calls … to cancel and restrict the events that take place that day” in the statement, but Clinton-appointed Judge Peter J. Messitte agreed with the SJP chapter that preventing the event violated the First Amendment, according to court documents.

“The grave harm the University cites is the potential disruption and violence that it believes will follow if the October 7 event goes forward,” the Messitte’s decision reads. “But in the Court’s view the decision of the University to revoke SJP’s reservation was clearly neither viewpoint- nor content-neutral. It came about for reasons that the Constitution simply does not countenance: fear of disruption, and anger of opponents. Again, the case authority emphatically rejects these reasons.”

The court clarified that the university could still enforce its conduct rules and had a right to punish students who violate university policy.

“hile speech and slogans by SJP will be permitted on October 7, any negative conduct not protected by the First Amendment will not be — including any incitement to imminent violence, physical or verbal threats, impeding access of any students to class or buildings, property damage of any sort, the occupation of buildings, encampments, and, in general, defiance of reasonable crowd control measures employed by security personnel,” Messitte wrote. “Violators may be subject to arrest and/or ouster from the campus. The University’s policy requirements with respect to campus events as they presently stand will apply in full.”