Houston Community College System v. Wilson

Houston Community College System v. Wilson, 595 U.S. ___ (2022), is a United States Supreme Court case related to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Houston Community College System v. Wilson
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 2, 2021
Decided March 24, 2022
Full case nameHouston Community College System v. David Buren Wilson
Docket no.20-804
Citations595 U.S. ___ (more)
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Clarence Thomas · Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan · Neil Gorsuch
Brett Kavanaugh · Amy Coney Barrett
Case opinion
MajorityGorsuch, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Background

David Buren Wilson was elected a member of the Houston Community College System's board in 2013 who was censured for repeated incidences of what other members of the Board of Trustees deemed to be behavior that was not becoming of an elected official or beneficial to the HCC system. Wilson filed suit claiming that the censure was an offense to his First Amendment rights.

Supreme Court

Certiorari was granted in the case on April 26, 2021.[1] In a March 24, 2022 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Wilson's First Amendment rights were not violated by his fellow board members' censure of him because the censure did not result in any hindrance of his ability to exercise his free speech in his capacity as an elected official and member of the public. The opinion cites the fact that the use of censure by elected bodies to address the behavior and actions of their members is a practice with a long history in the United States, and it also states that the censure itself constitutes an exercise of First Amendment rights by Wilson's colleagues on the board who voted to reprimand him.[2]

References
  1. Howe, Amy (April 26, 2021). "Justices add new cases on state secrets, free speech". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  2. Gorsuch, Neil (March 24, 2022). "Houston Community College System, Petitioner v. David Buren Wilson" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2022.


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