The National Coalition Against Censorship, joined by the Dramatists Guild of America, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Fashion Law Institute, Authors Guild, Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Freedom to Read Foundation, American Booksellers Association, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, filed an amicus brief before the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Spectrum WT v. Wendler. In 2023, Walter Wendler, the President of West Texas A&M University, cancelled an on-campus drag show planned by student group Spectrum WT because of his belief that drag shows are inherently discriminatory against women, despite acknowledging that the Constitution required him to allow the show to proceed. Spectrum WT sued to vindicate its members’ First Amendment rights, but the District Court denied its request for a preliminary injunction. A panel of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. The Fifth Circuit has since decided to rehear the case. The amicus brief argues that the Court should affirm the panel’s ruling and further find that Wendler’s cancellation of the show before its occurrence was a prior restraint on speech in violation of the First Amendment, a claim which the Court did not previously consider but which states a clear constitutional violation. Amici are represented by the SMU Dedman School of Law First Amendment Clinic.
Read the full Amicus Brief here:Click here for a full-screen view: