AAUP Amicus Briefs

For information on how to submit a request for amicus assistance, please read the AAUP Amicus Request Application Process (PDF).

In accord with the AAUP’s principles and litigation priorities, our legal office files amicus briefs in cases involving academic freedom, tenure, discrimination, affirmative action, sexual harassment, and intellectual property issues, among other things. In rare circumstances the AAUP participates as a party in cases involving academic freedom, First Amendment rights, and national security.

The decision to file a brief is made by the president, general counsel, and general secretary; the AAUP’s Litigation Committee, composed of legal experts in a variety of areas, provides additional guidance. The AAUP generally files amicus briefs only in appellate or supreme courts at the state or federal level.

The AAUP legal staff sometimes takes primary responsibility for drafting and submitting an amicus brief; other times, the AAUP signs onto a “coalition” brief that has been drafted primarily by another organization but implicates an important interest of the AAUP.

Academic Freedom and Employee Speech

McEnroy v. St. Meinrad Sch. of Theol., 713 N.E.2d 334 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999)

This case involved the dismissal of a tenured faculty member from the Saint Meinrad School of Theology who signed an open letter to the Pope, asking that continued discussion be permitted concerning the question of ordaining women to the priesthood.

Capeheart v. Terrell, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 18278 (7th Cir. 2012)

Professor Capeheart sued Northeastern Illinois University after the provost disregarded a faculty vote electing Capeheart chair of the Justice Studies Department.

Rector & Visitors of the Univ. of Va. v. Cuccinelli, 80 Va. Cir. 657 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2010); aff’d, sub nom. Cuccinelli v. Rector & Visitors of the Univ. of Va., 2012 Va. LEXIS 47 (Va. Mar. 2, 2012)

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who publicly opposes the theory of global warming, used his position to formally request emails and other documents relating to former faculty member and climatologist Michael Mann from the University of Virginia.

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Academic Freedom and Institutional Matters

Kincaid v. Gibson, 236 F.3d 342 (6th Cir. 2001)

Plaintiffs sued, alleging a violation of their   First Amendment rights when college administrators banned the distribution of a student-created college yearbook based on its cover and contents.

Columbia Union College v. Clarke, 988 F. Supp. 897 (D. Md. 1997); Columbia Union College v. Oliver, 254 F.3d 496 (4th Cir. 2001)

This case involved state funding for religious institutions, and the use of academic freedom as a standard to determine whether an institution is so pervasively sectarian as to be ineligible for state funding.

Crue v. Aiken, 204 F. Supp. 2d 1130 (C.D. Ill. 2002); Crue v. Aiken, 370 F.3d 668 (7th Cir. 2004 )

This case involves a challenge by faculty and students at the University of Illinois-Champaign to the administration's policy prohibiting them from communicating with prospective student athletes.

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Academic Freedom and National Security

ASA, AAUP, AAADC, BCPR, and Habib v. Secretaries of Homeland Security and State, 588 F. Supp. 2d 166 (D. Mass. 2008)

The AAUP joined several other organizations in filing suit against Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary of State, challenging the American consul in South Africa's denial of Professor Habib’s application for a non-immigrant visa on the ground he “engaged in terrorism” and thus was ineligible for a visa.

ACLU v. NSA, 493 F.3d 644 (6th Cir. 2007 )

Following 9/11, the  National Security Agency (NSA) undisputedly eavesdropped without warrants international telephone and e-mail communications in which at least one of the parties was “reasonably” suspected of al Qaeda ties.  Prominent journalists, scholars, attorneys and national nonprofit organizations who frequently communicate by phone and e-mail with people in the Middle East filed suit, argued that the NSA wiretapping program violates their First Amendment rights by impairing their ability to obtain information from sources abroad, conduct scholarship, and engage in advocacy. 

AAUP, AAR, PEN Center, & Ramadan v. Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, 463 F. Supp. 2d 400 (S.D.N.Y. 2006 )

The AAUP, American Academy of Religion, and PEN American Center filed an action against the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State, challenging the exclusion Professor Tariq Ramadan from entering the United States to accept speaking invitations extended by the AAUP and other scholarly organizations.

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Academic Freedom and Teaching

Southern Christian Leadership Conference v. Supreme Court of Louisiana, 61 F. Supp. 2d 499 (E.D. La. 1999); SCLC v. Supreme Court, 252 F.3d 781, 786 (5th Cir. 2001

The Louisiana Supreme Court amended a rule that imposed limits on the types of clients law school clinics may represent.  A number of plaintiffs, including professors and students, challenged this rule, alleging, in part, that it violated the academic freedom of professors to teach and students to learn.

Linnemeir v. Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, 155 F. Supp. 2d 1044 (N.D. Ind. 2001); Linnemeir v. Board of Trustees of Purdue University, 260 F.3d 757 (7th Cir. 2001)

This case involved efforts by some taxpayers and Indiana state legislators to compel Indiana University-Purdue University to halt the campus production of a controversial play, which the plaintiffs alleged is an "undisguised attack on Christianity and the Founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ."

Axson-Flynn v. Johnson, 356 F.3d 1277 (10th Cir. 2004)

Christina Axson-Flynn, a former student  at the University of Utah, sued her university theater department professors for violating her First Amendment rights by requiring  students perform in-class plays that Axson-Flynn found religiously objectionable.

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Affirmative Action

Smith v. University of Washington Law School, 392 F.3d 367 (9th Cir. 2004)

A white female student sued the University of Washington, claiming she was denied entry to the University of Washington Law School while less qualified minority applicants were admitted over her.

Johnson v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, 106 F. Supp. 2d 1362 (S.D. Ga. 2000)

Three rejected white female applicants for admission to the University of Georgia sued the state seeking admission and damages based on violations of the Civil Rights Act.

Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003) and; Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003)

In these  two seminal cases, white students brought class-action challenges to affirmative action policies and practices in the admissions processes of the undergraduate and law schools of the University of Michigan.

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Discrimination and Sexual Harassment

Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents, 528 U.S. 62 (2000)

Consolidating three cases, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed whether the "sovereign immunity" clause of the Eleventh Amendment prohibits public employees, including faculty members, from suing public institutions, including colleges and universities, under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) for damages .

Anderson v. State University of New York at New Paltz, 169 F.3d 117 (2d Cir. 1999 )

Dr. Janice Anderson sued the State University of New York alleging a number of claims, including violation of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII.

Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356 (2001)

Here, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed whether the "sovereign immunity" clause of the Eleventh Amendment prohibits public employees, including faculty members, from suing public institutions, including colleges and universities, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

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Faculty Collective Bargaining Rights

New York University and International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Case No. 2-RC-22082 (Apr. 3, 2000)

This National Labor Relations Board case raised the issue of whether graduate assistants are "employees" under the National Labor Relations Act.

Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Case No. 4-RC-20353 (Nov. 21, 2002)

The University of Pennsylvania administration contended that the unionization of graduate students who are employees violates institutional academic freedom.

Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, Case No. 2-RC-22358 (Feb. 11, 2002 ); Brown University, Case No. 1-RC-21368 (Nov. 16, 2001)

In these two cases, also known as the “teaching assistants” cases, Columbia University and Brown University administrations contended that unionization by graduate assistants violated the academic freedom of institutions.

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Intellectual Property

Pittsburg State University/Kansas NEA v. Kansas Board of Regents, PSU and PERB, 280 Kan. 408 (Kan. 2005)

This case involves a challenge by the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA) to the Kansas Board of Regents’ proposed policy giving ownership of faculty intellectual property to the universities at which they work. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that intellectual property rights are not simply assumed to be work-for-hire belonging to the university and can be a subject of collective bargaining.

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. et al., 131 S. Ct. 2188 (2011)

 
Petitioner Stanford University sued respondent Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. The research company responded by arguing it co-owned a patent based on a professor inventor's assignment, so the university lacked standing. This complex case has evolved into a broader battle over the patent rights of faculty members to their inventive work. 

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Tenure

Saxe v. Board of Trustees of Metropolitan State College of Denver, 179 P.3d 67 (Colo. Ct. App. 2007)

In 2003, the Board of Trustees at Metropolitan State College of Denver attempted to adopt a new faculty handbook that unilaterally modify certain tenure provisions, potentially “eviscerating the meaning of tenure in the academic community.” 

Edwin Otero-Burgos v. Inter-American University, 558 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2009)

Professor Otero-Burgos was dismissed in 2002 from Inter-American University, a private institution in Puerto Rico, in what he believed was a violation of his academic freedom.

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