Sovereignty and First Amendment rights of higher education institutions: An affirmative and institutional approach

ABSTRACT This article offers an analysis of how, and to what extent, public institutions of higher learning, as agents of one sovereign, could assert free speech rights against the federal government, another sovereign. This work expands the First Amendment and government speech discourse by contributing a novel examination of Supreme Court precedent and the Court’s language addressing the expressive activities of universities under academic freedom. This work also situates itself theoretically in the Madisonian conception of the First Amendment Free Speech Clause, and makes the case that public universities should be recognized as institutions that occupy a special constitutional status within the doctrine. The article’s significance is underscored by the fact that the current political climate raises the specter of increased regulation and policing of the expressive activities of universities.