West Texas A&M Drag Show Ban to Get Full 5th Circuit Rehearing

A federal appeals court vacated a split decision from a judge panel that held West Texas A&M University wrongly canceled a charity drag show in 2023.

The order Monday sets the stage for a majority of judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth District to potentially reverse two judges that ruled the cancellation violated an LGBTQ+ student group’s First Amendment protections.

The court said it will rehear the case on oral argument without setting a date.

The move from the New Orleans-based court to take the case en banc wipes out an August decision from judges Leslie Southwick and James Dennis and offers the judges an opportunity to adopt a dissent from the panel’s third member, Judge James Ho.

Ho wrote in the dissent that the university’s policy reserving the right to cancel an event that violates the regulations of Texas A&M University System “is plainly triggered here.”

“Tellingly (and quite understandably), the majority does not contend that West Texas A&M would be required to allow a student group to put on a blackface performance,” Ho wrote. “The result should not be different here just because drag shows find favor in certain circles.”

The case is Spectrum WT v. Wendler, 5th Cir., No. 23-10994, 10/27/25.