The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to consider the constitutionality of college bias response teams.
However, despite the opinions of two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the court did not accept a lawsuit against Indiana University officials that was brought by Speech First, a group created to protect students’ First Amendment rights.
In many cases, the group has taken colleges across the country to court because they use bias response teams, which ask for anonymous reports of bias and may send students to be disciplined, The Hill reported.
In a similar case last year, the group sued Virginia Tech, but the Supreme Court did not accept it. Virginia Tech eventually ended its team.
“Given the number of schools with bias response teams, this Court eventually will need to resolve the split over a student’s right to challenge such programs,” Thomas wrote Monday.
“The Court’s refusal to intervene now leaves students subject to a ‘patchwork of First Amendment rights,’ with a student’s ability to challenge his university’s bias response policies varying depending on accidents of geography,” Thomas continued, quoting his similar dissent when the court turned away the Virginia Tech case.
