Court To Hear ACLU-PA Arguments in UPitt Students for Justice in Palestine Case

On April 15, 2025, the ACLU of Pennsylvania sued the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt (SJP-Pitt), a university-affiliated organization that the school placed on an indefinite, interim-suspension in March. With no obvious violation of Pitt’s policies, the university’s action was in apparent retaliation for a letter that SJP-Pitt organized with more than 70 other university-affiliated clubs and community organizations protesting the school’s repeated harassment of the club. The university also initiated disciplinary proceedings against the club in response to a silent “study-in” that club members attended in the university library. By suspending the club in retaliation for its speech, Pitt officials have violated the students’ right to free speech. The lawsuit accuses the university of violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. SJP-Pitt has been a registered student organization since at least 2009 and became more active after October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters led an attack in southern Israel and the Israeli government subsequently began its military assault against Palestinians living in Gaza. Since then, the club has organized, co-sponsored, promoted, and advertised numerous demonstrations and educational events on and off campus to raise awareness of Palestinian people's suffering. But its suspension is severely limiting SJP-Pitt’s on-campus activism. The ACLU of Pa. is asking the court to order the university to lift SJP-Pitt’s suspension and to cease further disciplinary proceedings against the club over the library study group and the open advocacy letter criticizing the university. On August 28, 2025, Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled that the University of Pittsburgh must lift the suspension of SJP-Pitt and reinstate the organization's full privileges on campus. The court affirmed that the open advocacy letter sent by SJP-Pitt is protected free speech under the U.S. Constitution.

ACLU-PA filed a federal free speech lawsuit against the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt (SJP-Pitt), a student organization recently placed on an indefinite, interim suspension by the school in apparent retaliation for the club’s political speech.