{"id":136821,"date":"2025-11-12T21:59:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T05:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/12\/court-gives-lsu-greenlight-to-investigate-law-professor-for-bad-mouthing-our-supreme-leader\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T21:59:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T05:59:32","slug":"court-gives-lsu-greenlight-to-investigate-law-professor-for-bad-mouthing-our-supreme-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/12\/court-gives-lsu-greenlight-to-investigate-law-professor-for-bad-mouthing-our-supreme-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Gives LSU Greenlight To Investigate Law Professor For Bad-Mouthing Our Supreme Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fealty doesn\u2019t mean much without proof. Maybe that\u2019s why LSU is spending all the time and money to \u201cinvestigate\u201d and litigate the absolute nothingburger of a law professor talking shit off the cuff in his own classroom. To recap, Ken Levy is a law professor at Louisiana State University who got ratted on by one of his students for dropping two F-bombs \u2014 one about the state governor and the other about President Trump. People have been forgiven for much greater sins. JD Vance went on a mini tirade about our Commander-in-Dementia Screenings being a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/jd-vance-once-compared-trump-hitler-now-they-are-running-mates-2024-07-15\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hitler-esque idiot<\/a> and he\u2019s Vice President, for god\u2019s sake. But instead of telling the student to keep their nose in their notes instead of the professor\u2019s business, the school punished Levy by suspending him from teaching. Court rulings have been <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/02\/the-lsu-law-school-professor-free-speech-hot-potato-saga-continues\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hot potato-ing<\/a> from Levy to LSU\u2019s favor for a while now: the most recent development is in the school\u2019s favor. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theadvocate.com\/baton_rouge\/news\/courts\/court-allows-lsu-to-resume-investigation-of-law-professor\/article_b466355d-c481-40fc-b535-3f1f715dca0b.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Advocate<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>LSU is free to continue pursuing potential job action, including termination, against law professor Ken Levy, who was suspended from the classroom after making comments about President Donald Trump and Gov. Jeff Landry in front of students.<br \/>\u2026<br \/>\u201cProf. Levy\u2019s removal from the classroom was an interim decision made by LSU President (William) Tate that did not disturb Prof. Levy\u2019s tenure rights, employment, or pay,\u201d the panel concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hey man, I don\u2019t know how not letting the guy teach his class <em>isn\u2019t<\/em> disturbing his employment, but they\u2019re the ones in robes, not me. Would it work the other way? Could the teachers at LSU remove themselves and similarly not disturb their employment expectations?<\/p>\n<p>Levy\u2019s lawyer complained that the panel seemed to skirt the most obvious issue with the school\u2019s retaliation: what does this mean for free speech? I know that Trump bragged about putting an end to free speech because it was an inconvenience, but do public institutions really have carte blanche authority to kick out professors for sharing their (pretty innocuous) political opinions? And if tenured professors are on this tight of a leash, what protections are there for the schools\u2019 students?<\/p>\n<p>As important as the liberty litmus testing questions are, the most practical concern should be on the bottom line. Why the hell is the school funneling money to fight this? Is it just to virtue signal to Trump? Harvard pushed back against the administration and had to go to court to get the <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/09\/harvard-just-defrosted-trumps-multibillion-dollar-funding-freeze\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">billions in federal funding<\/a> that was already earmarked for them. Maybe going after Levy is a high-profile display of them obeying in advance. Whatever gets the coffers padded.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theadvocate.com\/baton_rouge\/news\/courts\/court-allows-lsu-to-resume-investigation-of-law-professor\/article_b466355d-c481-40fc-b535-3f1f715dca0b.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LSU Can Potentially Fire Law Professor For Trump, Landry Comments, Court Decides<\/a> [The Advocate]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Earlier<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/02\/the-lsu-law-school-professor-free-speech-hot-potato-saga-continues\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The LSU Law School Professor Free Speech Hot Potato Saga Continues<\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/Chris-Williams-2025.jpg?resize=512%2C288&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1162378\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:cwilliams@abovethelaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WritesForRent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/11\/court-gives-lsu-greenlight-to-investigate-law-professor-for-bad-mouthing-our-supreme-leader\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Court Gives LSU Greenlight To Investigate Law Professor For Bad-Mouthing Our Supreme Leader<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Fealty doesn\u2019t mean much without proof. Maybe that\u2019s why LSU is spending all the time and money to \u201cinvestigate\u201d and litigate the absolute nothingburger of a law professor talking shit off the cuff in his own classroom. To recap, Ken Levy is a law professor at Louisiana State University who got ratted on by one of his students for dropping two F-bombs \u2014 one about the state governor and the other about President Trump. People have been forgiven for much greater sins. JD Vance went on a mini tirade about our Commander-in-Dementia Screenings being a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/jd-vance-once-compared-trump-hitler-now-they-are-running-mates-2024-07-15\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hitler-esque idiot<\/a> and he\u2019s Vice President, for god\u2019s sake. But instead of telling the student to keep their nose in their notes instead of the professor\u2019s business, the school punished Levy by suspending him from teaching. Court rulings have been <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/02\/the-lsu-law-school-professor-free-speech-hot-potato-saga-continues\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hot potato-ing<\/a> from Levy to LSU\u2019s favor for a while now: the most recent development is in the school\u2019s favor. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theadvocate.com\/baton_rouge\/news\/courts\/court-allows-lsu-to-resume-investigation-of-law-professor\/article_b466355d-c481-40fc-b535-3f1f715dca0b.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Advocate<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>LSU is free to continue pursuing potential job action, including termination, against law professor Ken Levy, who was suspended from the classroom after making comments about President Donald Trump and Gov. Jeff Landry in front of students.<br \/>\u2026<br \/>\u201cProf. Levy\u2019s removal from the classroom was an interim decision made by LSU President (William) Tate that did not disturb Prof. Levy\u2019s tenure rights, employment, or pay,\u201d the panel concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hey man, I don\u2019t know how not letting the guy teach his class <em>isn\u2019t<\/em> disturbing his employment, but they\u2019re the ones in robes, not me. Would it work the other way? Could the teachers at LSU remove themselves and similarly not disturb their employment expectations?<\/p>\n<p>Levy\u2019s lawyer complained that the panel seemed to skirt the most obvious issue with the school\u2019s retaliation: what does this mean for free speech? I know that Trump bragged about putting an end to free speech because it was an inconvenience, but do public institutions really have carte blanche authority to kick out professors for sharing their (pretty innocuous) political opinions? And if tenured professors are on this tight of a leash, what protections are there for the schools\u2019 students?<\/p>\n<p>As important as the liberty litmus testing questions are, the most practical concern should be on the bottom line. Why the hell is the school funneling money to fight this? Is it just to virtue signal to Trump? Harvard pushed back against the administration and had to go to court to get the <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/09\/harvard-just-defrosted-trumps-multibillion-dollar-funding-freeze\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">billions in federal funding<\/a> that was already earmarked for them. Maybe going after Levy is a high-profile display of them obeying in advance. Whatever gets the coffers padded.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theadvocate.com\/baton_rouge\/news\/courts\/court-allows-lsu-to-resume-investigation-of-law-professor\/article_b466355d-c481-40fc-b535-3f1f715dca0b.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LSU Can Potentially Fire Law Professor For Trump, Landry Comments, Court Decides<\/a> [The Advocate]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Earlier<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/02\/the-lsu-law-school-professor-free-speech-hot-potato-saga-continues\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The LSU Law School Professor Free Speech Hot Potato Saga Continues<\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/Chris-Williams-2025.jpg?resize=512%2C288&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1162378\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:cwilliams@abovethelaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WritesForRent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/11\/court-gives-lsu-greenlight-to-investigate-law-professor-for-bad-mouthing-our-supreme-leader\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Court Gives LSU Greenlight To Investigate Law Professor For Bad-Mouthing Our Supreme Leader<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fealty doesn\u2019t mean much without proof. Maybe that\u2019s why LSU is spending all the time and money to \u201cinvestigate\u201d and litigate the absolute nothingburger of a law professor talking shit off the cuff in his own classroom. To recap, Ken Levy is a law professor at Louisiana State University who got ratted on by one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Chris-Williams-2025-Lp5WjY.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}