A Federal Judge in Austin today threw out a lawsuit filed by three University of Texas Professors who wanted the state's 'campus carry' bill thrown out on the grounds that it would have a 'chilling effect' on the exercise of free expression in classrooms, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
In a seven page ruling, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled that the three professors don't have standing to sue to have the law dismissed, because they cannot prove they have been 'harmed' by campus carry
."Plaintiffs cannot establish standing by simply claiming that they experienced in chilling effect that resulted from a governmental policy that does not regulate, constrain, or compel any action on their part," the court ruled.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton priaised the ruling.
"The court recognized that neither a “chilling effect” nor a possibility of a future illegal action by persons unknown who may or may not have been influenced by the law can constitute proper grounds for a complaint," Paxton said.
The Campus Carry law, which was approved in the 2015 session of the Legislature, allows people to carry handguns on college campuses, subject to limited restrictions imposed by the college president.
The three professors argued that the possible presence of guns in the classroom, even though many campuses don't allow guns to be carried into classrooms, would limit their First Amendment rights by leaving them and the students unwilling to express unpopular viewpoints out of fear of being shot.
"The Supreme Court has expressed reluctance to endorse standing theories that rest on speculation about the decisions of independent actors," Judge Yeakel wrote. "The petitioners present no concrete evidence to substantiate their fears, but instead rest on mere conjecture about possible governmental outcomes."