HMM: Supreme Court petitioned to decide if chilling faculty speech violates First Amendment.

A conservative UT Austin finance professor has petitioned the Supreme Court to review his lawsuit, arguing that administrative threats that suppressed his free speech activity constitute unconstitutional retaliation — even though he has not been demoted or officially censured.

The petition for review describes Professor Richard Lowery as “an outspoken professor” who “has a history of speaking, posting, and publishing on controversial topics such as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), affirmative action, academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and capitalism.”

The request to the high court comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in October upheld the dismissal of the case, affirming a lower court’s decision that Lowery did not suffer from any real administrative retaliation for his outspokenness aside from “grumblings” and “informal pressure.”

“University of Texas officials threatened Professor Richard Lowery with reduced pay, loss of a research post, and other consequences, if he did not stop publicly criticizing the UT administration. Wishing to avoid those outcomes, Lowery self-censored,” Lowery’s Supreme Court petition states.

The petition claims court precedent has established that employer threats suffice to establish a First Amendment retaliation claim “if they would dissuade a reasonable employee from speaking,” calling the Fifth Circuit “one of two outlier courts that require a completed adverse action, such as a discharge, demotion, or reprimand.”

Stay tuned…