The Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled against me 2-1. The ruling was widely seen as substantially restricting the academic freedom of professors in the 4th Circuit (MD, NC, SC, VA and WV); I’ve included links to some media mentions below. The dissenting judge wrote a strong dissent, part of which I’ve quoted:
Our job, however, is not to appraise the value of Porter’s speech or his personal virtue. It’s to take the facts as alleged in the complaint, read them in a light most favorable to Porter, and then decide whether he’s plausibly stated a claim for relief. And, drawing all reasonable inferences in Porter’s favor, the University threatened his tenure by removing him from his program area because of his protected speech. The University has not yet produced evidence to justify its decision. And no such evidence springs forth from the face of the complaint. So Porter’s claims ought to survive, and the district court’s contrary decision ought to be reversed. This is not a close call.
My friends in the majority apparently seek to return to the days of Justice Holmes. But only for certain plaintiffs. In doing so, they have developed a new “bad man” theory of the law: identify the bad man; he loses. But see Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Path of the Law, 10 Harv. L. Rev. 457 (1897). The majority’s threadbare analysis willfully abandons both our precedent and the facts in search of its desired result. Even for a Holmesian, that cynicism breaks new ground.
As a result, we filed a petition with the Supreme Court to revisit their decision. They receive thousands of petitions a year, and only take up a handful, so the probability of success is quite low. But as those of us in the fight for freedom understand, we must fight until the bitter end.
By the way, I’ve made a parody video to help publicize my case, I hope you enjoy:
Media mentions of the 4th Circuit ruling:
- National Review
- Reason
- The Spectator: In defense of cranky professors
- Inside Higher Ed: He Called an Association a ‘Woke Joke.’ He Lost His Retaliation Claim.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Review: Has a ticking time bomb for academic freedom finally exploded?
- Bloomberg Law: Professor Loses Free Speech Appeal Over ‘Woke Joke’ Blog Post
- The Carolina Journal: Federal Appeals Court rules against NCSU professor who complained about social justice, DEI
- The Fire.org: In hit to academic freedom, Fourth Circuit holds public universities can punish faculty for ‘lack of collegiality’
- Professor blogs:
Previous posts about my case:
Woke Joke Part 6: Appeal of the motion to dismiss
Woke Joke Part 5: Lost the motion to dismiss
Woke Joke Part 4: Final motions filed
Woke Joke Part 3: Our response to NCSU’s Motion to Dismiss
Woke Joke Part 2: NCSU responds to lawsuit
Woke Joke Part 1: When the woke mob comes for you, stand up and fight back!
