UC Berkeley Sheds Some Antisemitism Claims by Jewish Groups (1)

Jewish groups’ allegations that the University of California, Berkeley, its law school, and other defendants discriminated against Jewish students and professors were trimmed by a federal court.

The institutions must defend against claims that they violated the groups’ equal protection and free exercise rights, as well as Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Judge James Donato of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said in an order entered Tuesday.

Donato, however, dismissed the groups’ contract-based claims. The plaintiffs didn’t allege that any academic member of their organizations sought to contract with student groups that adopted a bylaw barring invitations to individuals espousing Zionist beliefs, he said.

The plaintiffs include Louis B. Brandeis Center Inc. and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education.

Multiple top universities are facing antisetism claims leveled aginst them for their reponses to campus protests in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Trump administration has taken a special interest in those cases, has launched reviews of the incidents that led to them, and is threatening the universities with a reduction of their federal funding.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher recently entered the case as the plaintiffs’ attorneys. Munger, Tolles and Olson LLP represents the defendants.

The case is Louis D. Brandeis Cntr. Inc. v. Regents of Univ. of Calif., 2025 BL 111342, N.D. Cal., No. 23-CV-06133-JD, 3/31/25.