ADF letter prompts TX university to cancel $28K charge for conservative events
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Caleb Dalton regarding the University of Texas at Arlington’s decision to rescind a $28,600 charge that officials had unconstitutionally billed Turning Point USA to cover security for two small campus events. ADF sent a letter to UTA officials two weeks ago requesting they rescind the charge because they violated TPUSA’s First Amendment rights when they illegitimately charged the student group the high security fees following their events:
“Charging more than $28,000 for two small events is prohibitively expensive speech—not free speech. Officials at the University of Texas at Arlington charged TPUSA outrageous security fees simply because they feared how others might react to TPUSA’s speech. This is exactly the type of suppression the First Amendment forbids. Implementing such security fees is what’s known as a ‘heckler’s veto,’ an action which unconstitutionally allows those who oppose certain speech to censor it simply by protesting or threatening to protest. We commend UTA officials for quickly rescinding these unlawful charges, and for securing these events in the first place, but we urge them to take the next right step, which is to amend their policies to protect every student’s freedom of speech so that this never happens again.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Caleb Dalton
Caleb Dalton serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom's Center for Life, where he brings over a decade of civil rights litigation and public advocacy experience to the team, securing the rights of the unborn and those who advocate for them. Since joining ADF, Dalton has served on multiple teams representing private individuals and government entities to affirm the fundamental freedoms of speech and religious liberty. With ADF's Center for Conscience Initiatives, he played a key role in the successful petition for certiorari in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission at the U.S. Supreme Court. With the Center for Academic Freedom, he successfully represented students and faculty seeking to speak freely on public university campuses across the country. Dalton earned a J.D. at the Regent University School of Law, graduating cum laude. He is a member of the bar in Arizona, Virginia, and the District of Columbia; he is also admitted to practice before multiple federal district and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.