Judge: DeSantis, university leader ‘running their mouths’ about Palestinian groups
TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge on Friday criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s university chancellor for “running their mouths” in ordering two universities in Florida to shut down chapters of pro-Palestinian student organizations.
But the judge did not rule immediately on whether he would issue a protective order for the chapters of the Students for Justice in Palestine as they had asked the court to do.
In remarks at the end of a nearly four-hour hearing in Tallahassee, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker emphasized that words have consequences.
He referred to an Oct. 24 memorandum from Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System, telling the University of Florida and the University of South Florida they had to deactivate the student groups after the Hamas surprise invasion of Israel in the fall.
Before he abandoned his presidential campaign on Sunday, DeSantis boasted during one of the Republican debates in November that he had shut down the pro-Palestinian student chapters.
In fact, the two universities had quietly consulted outside lawyers who told them the order would be unconstitutional. The schools asked the administration what to do next but otherwise took no action.
“All kinds of people at all levels of government running their mouths,” said Walker, who was appointed in 2012 by President Barack Obama and has regularly criticized DeSantis and his administration in his rulings on voting and civil rights cases.
Lawyers for the student groups had asked Walker to temporarily block the DeSantis administration’s efforts to deactivate them. They sought a preliminary injunction that would protect their continued activities on campuses.
Lawyers for DeSantis and the State University System asked the judge to throw out the groups’ lawsuits, which assert that their First Amendment rights were being denied.
The DeSantis administration had objected to a statement of support from the groups’ national parent organization that it was “part of” the resistance against Israel.
Florida said that violated a state law against offering material support to terrorists.
In court papers, lawyers for the governor said there was no evidence that DeSantis personally directed Rodrigues to order the groups to shut down. They said the governor “did not, and could not,” issue the controversial memo. His lawyers called it “allegedly unconstitutional conduct.”
In Friday’s hearing, the judge appeared to agree that the governor’s involvement was peripheral.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Rodrigues said the universities were allowed to ignore the memo, which they said had no legal effect. The board of governors had no enforcement authority over student groups, they said.