Supreme Court Declines to Hear Challenge to Campus Bias Response Teams; Thomas, Alito Warn of Free Speech Risks
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a challenge to the constitutionality of college “bias response teams,” leaving in place a lower court ruling that upheld Indiana University’s program.
The case was brought by Speech First, a student free-speech advocacy group, which argued that the university’s system—allowing anonymous reports of perceived bias that can lead to disciplinary action—chills protected expression in violation of the First Amendment. According to the group, such teams serve as informal speech police, deterring controversial opinions without imposing explicit bans.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the Court’s decision not to hear the case, warning that the growing prevalence of bias response teams at universities nationwide risks creating a fragmented “patchwork” of student speech rights, depending on where a student attends school. They argued the Court should intervene to clarify the constitutional boundaries, noting that the question will continue to surface as more institutions adopt similar policies.