West Point Faculty Speech Policy Draws Constitutional Challenge

A recently-implemented West Point policy requiring faculty to obtain approval before participating in any outside speaking engagements violates the First Amendment, a law professor at the US Military Academy asserted Monday.

The intent of the new rules is to “chill and suppress speech and censor viewpoints that might be contrary” to the views of the academy, the Army, Department of Defense, or the president, professor Tim Bakken alleged in a proposed class action filed on behalf of all civilian West Point faculty members, at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The regulation imposes a content-based prior restraint on his speech, and delegates “overly broad licensing discretion to a government official” without clear standards, said Bakken, who’s taught law at the academy for 25 years. He seeks an order enjoining the defendants from enforcing the regulation against civilian faculty.

His lawsuit comes just days after the Defense Department announced a new policy requiring journalists to use only pre-approved information about the military or be stripped of their credentials for covering the Pentagon. The new rule—which is likely to draw a First Amendment challenge—was announced in a memo issued by spokesperson Sean Parnell requiring reporters to sign a 10-page form as a precondition to their receipt of a DOD press pass.

President Donald Trump in January signed an executive order barring any military academic institution from promoting “un-American” and divisive theories, including “gender ideology,” which the administration defines as replacing the “biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity.”

West Point in February announced the policy requiring faculty members to obtain approval from their department heads to participate in any speaking or writing engagements outside the school when using their affiliation. Faculty that don’t comply with the policy risk disciplinary action, including termination, the complaint alleges.

‘Must Obey’

Bakken, who frequently appears on podcasts and other speaking engagements outside the academy and wishes to continue doing so, claims West Point requires him to speak to external audiences and publish works “as a condition of employment” to earn promotions and tenure, and receive salary increases.

Still, when seeking approval in July to present a paper at a conference, West Point officials allegedly told Bakken that requests haven’t been approved when the proposal “conflicted with applicable Executive Orders or DoD/Army guidance, or when the content did not meet the standard of academic scholarship.”

When Bakken raised concerns about the legality of the policy during faculty meetings, he claims he was told by department heads to “stop speaking” and that he “must obey the regulation.”. Bakken also alleges several West Point officials told him the policy was meant to protect the dean and superintendent “by showing their obedience to the new administration,” and that “radical compliance” was a means of protecting their positions.

West Point didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Goldman Law PLLC and Bergstein & Ullrich represent Bakken.

The case is Bakken v. U.S. Mil. Acad., S.D.N.Y., No. 7:25-cv-07826, complaint filed 9/22/25.