Appeals court hears challenge to Texas limits on overnight and finals-week campus protests

A federal appeals court on Tuesday takes up the fight over a Texas law that tells public colleges and universities to restrict protests and other expression overnight and at the end of each term.

Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit are weighing whether the limits in Senate Bill 2972, which supporters titled the Campus Protection Act, run afoul of the First Amendment, The Texas Tribune reported. A federal judge in Austin blocked enforcement of the challenged provisions last year.

What the law requires

Under the 2025 law, each public college in Texas must write rules banning expressive activity on its grounds from 10 p.m. until 8 a.m. In the last two weeks of every term, those rules also have to bar guest speakers, amplified sound and drumming or other percussion. Legislators approved it following the 2024 pro-Palestinian demonstrations at campuses across the country, including a walkout at UT-Austin.

The students' case

A lawsuit came from students and campus groups at UT-Austin and UT-Dallas. With lawyers from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), they argue the restrictions are broad enough to reach activity unrelated to the protests that prompted the law, such as a student journalist publishing from a dorm room late at night or a religious group worshiping quietly with a guest minister.

"The Texas Legislature cannot send the First Amendment to bed at 10 p.m.," their brief says.

On Oct. 14, 2025, U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra ruled for the students, finding they were likely to win and that the limits were unconstitutionally broad. He temporarily barred UT System officials from enforcing them, and the system appealed.

The state's case

The state's lawyers, Solicitor General William Peterson and Assistant Solicitor General Daniel Ortner, contend that Ezra interpreted the law too strictly. In their view SB 2972 does not directly forbid late-night or end-of-term speech; it tells colleges to write policies balancing free expression against disruption of exams, study and sleep.

They point to language in the law saying it may not be read to limit First Amendment rights, and to UT-Austin's policy, which they say applies to common outdoor areas and to sound loud enough to be heard indoors. They also argue the students lack standing because the law regulates colleges, not students.

The students respond that the statute orders schools to adopt the limits (it says they "shall adopt" them) and mandates discipline, so campuses have little leeway. Another point of dispute is whether exempting commercial speech, such as merchandise sales, makes the law favor some messages over others.

Sources

The Texas Tribune