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Won U.S. Supreme Court

Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski

Chike Uzuegbunam at the U.S. Supreme Court

Summary

In 2016, Georgia Gwinnett College officials stopped student Chike Uzuegbunam not once, but twice, from peacefully sharing his Christian faith with fellow students on his college campus. First, officials said he had to get advance permission to use one of two tiny speech zones that made up far less than 1% of the campus and were only open 10% of the week. Despite following these policies, Chike was again prevented from speaking. After ADF challenged the unconstitutional policies, Georgia Gwinnett argued that Chike’s speech should receive no constitutional protection, changed its policy, and claimed it should be able to avoid any penalty for violating Chike’s free speech rights. Two courts agreed, but the Supreme Court decided to hear Chike’s case and ruled in his favor.

Case Documents

Court
Title
Date
Trial Court
6/22/2022
U.S. Supreme Court
3/8/2021
U.S. Supreme Court
5/5/2020
U.S. Supreme Court
3/4/2020
U.S. Supreme Court
1/31/2020
Appellate Court
9/14/2019
Appellate Court
7/1/2019
Trial Court
6/25/2018
Trial Court
5/25/2018
Trial Court
12/19/2016

Additional Resources

One-page summary

Adam Liptak: A College’s ‘Free Speech Areas’ Face Supreme Court Review (The New York Times, 2020-08-17)

John Bursch: Supreme Court to decide if constitutional rights are only valuable when a price tag is on them (Washington Times, 2020-07-15)

Matt Lamb: New Supreme Court case could make it easier for students to defend free-speech rights (The College Fix, 2020-07-14)

Travis C. Barham: Georgia College Remains Unchastened For Saying Handing Out Pamphlets Is ‘Disorderly Conduct’ (The Federalist, 2020-04-27)

Chike Uzuegbunam: Atheists, Jews, Muslims, Catholics all asking Supreme Court to defend rights my college violated (Daily Wire, 2020-04-07)

Case Profiles

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KW Headshot
Kristen Waggoner
CEO, President, and General Counsel
As the CEO, president, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, Kristen Waggoner leads the faith-based legal organization in protecting fundamental freedoms and promoting the inherent dignity of all people throughout the U.S. and around the world.
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John Bursch
John Bursch
Senior Counsel, Vice President of Appellate Advocacy
John Bursch is senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy with Alliance Defending Freedom.
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Tyson Langhofer
Tyson Langhofer
Senior Counsel, Director of Center for Academic Freedom
Tyson Langhofer serves as senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom with Alliance Defending Freedom.