Somin on university lawsuits

Ilya Somin argues that universities should challenge speech-based deportation of students, rather than leaving it to individual challenges (or even class actions) by the students.

Universities (especially public universities) took the lead in challenging the Muslim travel ban and other policies during Trump I. They claimed injury from not having these students as part of the community, with the associated financial and mission loss; they succeeded with various forms of third-party and association standing. The standing argument for universities now might be stronger, because they may be able to frame a form of first-party standing--the threat to their students violates universities' First Amendment rights to create an academic community and forces the university to institute certain speech policies it may not like.

Charlie Sykes interviewed Anne Applebaum and asked an interesting question: Why are institutions so hesitant to challenge Trump now compared with eight years ago. Applebaum speculated it is about January 6--everyone knows Trump has no boundaries and will resort to violence. I had a different take (although perhaps it is related): Trump did not target universities or law firms or companies. It was easy to stand-up for others (e.g., banned immigrants) when there was nothing personal on the line. Facing direct sanction, universities and firms choose to lay low and appease, hoping to get along unscathed. The fallout affects the firms as well as the people they might represent.