Supreme Court rules against college official’s challenge to censure

The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously shot down a Texas community college board member’s claim that a censure issued against him by colleagues violated his free speech rights.

The lawsuit brought against the Houston Community College board of trustees by one of its members, Dave Wilson, culminated a long-running feud between them. Their spat eventually led to the board verbally censuring Wilson in 2018 in response to his public criticisms, prompting his lawsuit.

But the court on Thursday ruled that a “purely verbal censure” like the one Wilson received did not give rise to a valid First Amendment claim.

“Argument and counterargument, not litigation, are the weapons available for resolving this dispute,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court, noting that the decision was a narrow one. 

“Doubtless, by invoking its ‘censure’ authority in the second resolution the Board added a measure of sting,” Gorsuch wrote. “But we cannot see how that alone changed the equation and materially inhibited Mr. Wilson’s ability to speak freely.”

The ruling reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which had sided with Wilson.