White Supremacist’s Return To Law School Put On Pause

In a surprising turn of events, class will not be in session for Preston Damsky! For now, at least. To recap, Damsky was a student at the University of Florida’s law school that made the most of a Trump-appointed judge teaching a class by rehashing Klan constitutionalism — he CALI’d the class, of course. And while the paper he wrote about killing Mexicans and disenfranchising non-whites got him some notoriety, he wasn’t in trouble over it per se. He got in trouble after he took to Twitter to announce that “Jews should be abolished by any means.” That tweet was read as a threat by the university and prompted them to expel Damsky to prevent the campus from becoming hostile. Damsky pushed back and sued the school for violating the First Amendment by retaliating against his political beliefs. That case came out in his favor; Damsky won the battle and the school was told to reinstate him. But the war isn’t over! Tallahassee Democrat has coverage:

A federal appeals court has paused a self-described white nationalist law student’s return to the University of Florida, a week after a lower-court judge ordered the law school to reinstate Preston Damsky by Dec. 1.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay Dec. 3 – a temporary hold on the judge’s ruling – until a three-judge appellate panel weighs in.

Preston will have to put a hold on any potential on-campus goose-stepping too. University of Florida PD handed Damsky a trespass warning in the meantime.

It isn’t clear if the panel’s decision will change the ultimate outcome, and that’s kind of a big deal. I think that answering the case’s central question — does political advocacy for removing (or abolishing) a class of people constitute an immediate enough threat to be actionable — will add some definition to the blurry line that separates acceptable speech suppression and obligations for universities to safeguard their faculty and students. If the panel rules in the school’s favor, I wonder what the spillover will look like. This is Florida, after all. If some student tweets “ICE is on a divine mission to relieve America of Mexican illegals and if they do it by feeding them to alligators, so be it,” is that grounds for expulsion? If so, UoF students better be cautious about retweeting Laura Loomer content as they finish up their degrees.

White Nationalist’s Reinstatement To UF Law School Now On Pause [Tallahassee Democrat]

Earlier: Trump Judge Gives Nazi-Sympathizing Law Student High Marks For Rehashing Klan Legal Theory Calling For Minority Disenfranchisement And Murdering Immigrants

Florida Lawsuit Will Determine If Law School Student Tweeting ‘Jews Must Be Abolished’ Is An Expellable Offense

White Supremacist Law Student Reinstated To University of Florida

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s .  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.