When an anti-abortion activist held a sign depicting a fetus in utero with the caption “What about her body and her rights?” to the side of a University of South Florida weekly open-air market, campus police didn’t just order him into a so-called free speech zone, as did Tucson, Ariz. police when an evangelist showed up to a nonsectarian Christmas street festival.USF police arrested and jailed Tyler Newton for 14 hours on Sept. 23 at the behest of campus officials for standing with his sign and sharing his “abolitionist” views with passers-by, a new First Amendment lawsuit claims.
Describing Newton as a “disabled veteran who is medically retired” from the Army and has “committed himself to public advocacy and speech,” the lawsuit says the taxpayer-funded university also banned Newton from campus for a year, preventing him from visiting his brother, a student, and he can’t challenge the no-trespass order as a non-student.
The complaint is bound to get heightened attention because it was filed by the Center for American Liberty, founded and led by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon before her confirmation.
Dhillon’s group apparently got involved quickly, since Newton posted a GiveSendGo fundraiser to cover his legal defense by Sept. 29 and had raised $875 as of Oct. 6 before hiding it. (The fundraiser still shows up in search results for his name and activism.)
Newton had also asked for donations in August so he could buy “recording equipment” to document his anti-abortion activism, having just returned to Florida with his wife and child, and it came in handy for his visit to USF last month.
Event organizers have ‘choice’ to veto First Amendment rights in public spaces
Because of Newton’s 46 minutes of continuous tripod footage documenting his interactions with students and campus officials and his arrest, plus the lawsuit’s hard documentation of his arrest and no-trespass order, the litigation likely won’t require a jury to resolve factual issues.
The video captures Marshall Student Center Director Matt Marshall, who oversees the weekly Bull Market in the MSC plaza, telling Newton that event organizers don’t want his “activity taking place during their event” and “they have that choice.” Marshall is a defendant along with President Moez Limayem, USF Police Chief Chris Daniels and USF trustees.
Marshall cited a USF public space policy that suspends First Amendment rights in otherwise public areas during any “reserved activity” such as events and tabling, despite the fact that the Bull Market is visibly well behind Newton’s spot on the edge of a walking path.
Tucson police used the same justification to threaten arrest against evangelist David Hoffman last December – that the Winterhaven Festival of Lights organizers had the right to exclude proselytizing on public streets because of their city permit.
“This case is not about whether anyone agrees with Tyler’s views on abortion,” Center for American Liberty CEO Mark Trammell said. “The First Amendment means very little if public officials can have someone arrested simply because others would rather not hear his message.”
The lawsuit also alleges USF is violating an eight-year-old state law that renders “outdoor areas of public universities that are generally open to members of the campus community” as “traditional public forums for everyone,” preventing viewpoint-based regulation of expression.
USF Senior Director of Media Relations Althea Johnson declined to answer questions about the litigation, including how campus policy comports with the 2018 Campus Free Expression Act. USF’s practice is “not to comment on pending litigation,” she wrote in an email.
Newton didn’t get the temporary restraining order he had sought by Oct. 13 to let him engage in activism at the next two Bull Market events, Oct. 14 and 21. (Dhillon’s firm filed the lawsuit Oct. 9 but didn’t publicize it until Thursday, and its online press release is still password-protected as of Thursday night.)
U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven, nominated by President George W. Bush, ruled hours after the complaint and motion for TRO that “the ‘recurring’ nature” of the event means USF should first get “the opportunity to be heard and present defenses.” She scheduled a two-hour evidentiary hearing for Oct. 21, during the first half of that day’s Bull Market.
