Professor Defeats Appeal in Suit Over Defense of Accused Racist

University of North Texas board members lost their renewed bid to end a professor’s First Amendment lawsuit over his defense of a historical music theorist from charges of racism.

The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit turned on whether Timothy Jackson, “a leading expert on the Austrian music theorist Heinrich Schenker,” established standing to sue eight members of University’s Board of Regents and whether the defendants were immune from Jackson’s free-speech retaliation claims. A lower court properly found that Jackson did enough to establish his standing to sue and the board members failed to show ...