Off-Topic and Low-Effort CW Thread for March 14, 2022OT/LE

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Court ruling sets up free speech Catch-22 for professors at schools with Native American partnerships

A California-based federal judge recently dismissed a lawsuit by a San Jose State University professor who argued the school had violated her First Amendment rights by locking her out of the anthropology department’s human remains collection.

Professor Elizabeth Weiss said the school, acting in concert with Native American tribal leaders, was punishing her for her vocal objection to repatriation, the returning of remains to the tribes.

U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman earlier this month dismissed the lawsuit, having determined Weiss failed to include the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, whose ancestors make up a portion of the SJSU collection, as a defendant.

But there is a catch: federally recognized tribes are immune from lawsuits, so Weiss couldn’t legally do what Judge Freeman ruled she had failed to do.

Weiss’ attorney told The College Fix if Freeman’s ruling becomes precedent, it will be impossible for professors to sue schools for violating their First Amendment rights if that school has a relationship with a Native American tribe.