Federal Court Vacates Decision Ordering UPenn to Turn Over List of Jewish Employees to Federal Government

PHILADELPHIA – On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated a lower court ruling that ordered the University of Pennsylvania to compile and disclose a list of Jewish employees, staff, and students to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

That subpoena demanded the private information of Penn community members (including personal address, email, and phone number) based upon their religion, their membership in certain groups, what they teach or study, and their attendance at events based on the topics discussed–in violation of the First Amendment’s protections for the freedoms of speech, religion, association, and academic freedom.

The EEOC reached an agreement with the University to pause enforcement of the subpoena in July, but the Trump administration could have used the lower court’s ruling later to demand the same or similar lists at Penn or from other universities and colleges. This decision wipes from the books any precedent for the government to seek lists of people’s personal contact information because of their religion or because they attended gatherings about certain issues, teach certain subjects, or are members of certain groups.

“The Trump administration’s effort to create lists of Jewish faculty and students at UPenn and to obtain their personal contact information should’ve alarmed every Pennsylvanian who values the First Amendment right to free speech and association,” said Witold Walczak, legal director at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “Such a list would only chill the rights of Jewish faculty and students, which is why we are ecstatic about this victory that not only protects them from future attempts to abuse power, but others who could’ve been targets of similar demands.”

“This is a decisive victory against this administration's unlawful overreach,” said Craig Becker, managing counsel at Democracy Defenders Fund.” First the EEOC agreed not to enforce its overly broad subpoena seeking confidential records of Jewish-identified students and faculty at Penn. Now the Court of Appeals has vacated the lower court's decision, ensuring it is not used in the future to trample faculty or students’ constitutional rights to advance a political agenda.”

“The higher ed sector is being attacked from all directions by the Trump administration," said Lorena Grundy, vice-president at the American Association of University Professors. "In this case, the EEOC tried to coerce Penn into giving up the names and home addresses of our Jewish community, and we’re so relieved to have beaten that attack. I’m really thankful to the ACLU for defending us, and sticking with the fight to get the district court ruling dismissed. Now, not only is the Jewish community at Penn safer and freer, we’ve also protected others as well by taking a tool out of the Trump administration’s toolkit. We’re so proud to have built such a strong coalition to stand up for the privacy and freedom of our community. This victory is exactly what we were fighting for when we decided to continue our appeal - we wanted to make sure that the district court ruling in favor of the EEOC was vacated, so that the EEOC couldn’t try to use it to persuade other universities to give up the kind of information it sought from Penn. We’re thrilled to have beaten this unconstitutional attempt by the Trump administration to violate the privacy and safety of our Jewish community."

"This is a huge and incredibly meaningful win for Penn’s Jewish community, the Penn community more broadly, and for First Amendment rights,” said Amanda Shanor, constitutional law scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and co-counsel in the litigation. “The subpoena deeply scared many here, and even after the university and the EEOC settled (pausing enforcement of the subpoena), intervening faculty, staff, and students were steadfast in their desire to make sure that the district court’s opinion could not be later weaponized against them or used to authorize a demand for Jews or any other group at other universities. The Penn community came together across religious beliefs and ideology to oppose this unprecedented demand from the government. This win demonstrates again that if we come together and stand up, we can prevail."

"I am incredibly proud that Penn Law's Jewish community stood firm in our belief that participation in religious life should not be conditional on the government knowing who was there, how to contact us, or where we live,” said Penn student leader Jake Naimark. “The Third Circuit’s decision delivered a major victory in the fight to ensure that the US government never gains the power to do so. It speaks to the power of standing up for what is right—and winning."

You can find more information about the lawsuit and the motion to vacate at aclupa.org/EEOC_Penn.

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