Calling additional free speech legislation “unnecessary” and “burdensome,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed a bipartisan bill designed to protect that liberty on the state’s university campuses. House Bill 269, modeled after legislation in other states, passed both Louisiana chambers with only two dissenting votes. It comes in response to nationwide protests by university students against speakers they deem offensive, many of whom are conservative. Some of those protests have turned violent.
The bill would have directed college administrators to establish a range of disciplinary measures to punish hecklers and violent protesters and curb future disruptions.
In a statement explaining his June 26 veto and extolling “the importance of protecting free expression,” Edwards mentioned a case (Matal v. Tam) in which the plaintiffs had to appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to express...
