Suspended LSU Law Professor Who Rankled Governor Can Continue Lawsuit Against School
The First Amendment is at the center of a controversial battle between Lousiana State University (LSU), two of its law professors, and Governor Jeff Landry. There's been a bevy of accusations, complaints, lawsuits, and rulings. The most recent one allowed LSU Law Professor Ken Levy to continue his lawsuit against LSU.
Free Speech Rights Under the Microscope
The current saga began with LSU administrative law professor Nick Bryner making the following statement to his students the day after the 2024 presidential election: "I don’t know if anybody falls in that category, but if you voted for Trump on the idea that you don’t like him personally but that you like his policies, I just want you to think about the message that that sends to other people and how you can prove that, by treating other people in a way that matches that sentiment.”
A recording of the class made it to Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. Landry fired off some angry messages on social media before sending LSU a letter demanding they discipline Bryner.
This was not new territory for Landry. As attorney general in 2021, he made similar demands for a professor who mocked an assistant attorney general who read a letter from Landry at a Faculty Senate meeting. According to the professor, the letter was full of debunked COVID misinformation.
Landry also signed SB294 into effect in 2024. The law has been controversial, with critics arguing it attempts to criminalize aspects of free speech on college and university campuses. Landry has claimed that Bryner violated SB294 for forcing his political opinions on students.
Another Professor in Hot Water
In his first class of the current semester, LSU professor of constitutional and criminal law Ken Levy referenced Bryner's plight. In the suit filed against LSU, Levy swore in an affidavit that he followed reference with, "If Governor Landry were to retaliate against me, then f*** the governor and f*** that." Levy insists it was done in a joking matter to reinforce his request that students not record his classes. Some of the students present said the class responded with laughter.
The suit alleges that phone calls and pressure from Landry caused LSU to suspend Levy from teaching while conducting an investigation into the allegations. He claims LSU violated his First Amendment rights and policies regarding tenured faculty. An LSU spokesman said the school was looking at possible violations of PS-15, which is a policy with restrictions on teachers using a classroom to air grievances, intimidate students, or employ gratuitous profanity.
This May Geaux on for a While
On January 30, 2025, a judge in Louisiana's 19th District granted Levy's request for a temporary restraining order so that he could return to teaching. That victory was short-lived, as a three-judge panel from the First Circuit Court of Appeals overturned part of the order on Feb. 4. It ruled that Levy's return to teaching required a full evidentiary hearing.
That evidentiary hearing began on February 10. LSU argued that Levy should have pursued reinstatement through administrative actions before filing a lawsuit. But District Court Judge Tarvald Smith sided with Levy, holding that "Professor Levy has every right, in this court’s opinion, to bring this action, because removing a tenured professor from his duties is a harm to that professor." He also agreed with Levy that LSU was required to turn over messages between the governor and LSU's president, dean of the law school, and board of trustees.
The lawsuit will continue for now. Levy remains suspended from teaching at this time.
Related Resources
- How To Organize a Legal Protest (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
- Freedom of Speech - The First Amendment (U.S. Constitution)
- Louisiana Protest Laws (FindLaw's Civil Rights Law)
