Rights Groups Urge Court to Uphold Decision Against Texas Anti-Boycott Law
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Contact:
Kristian Bailey, Palestine Legal, (312) 547-0766, media@palestinelegal.org
December 5, 2019 – This week, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a lawsuit seeking to strike down a Texas law that requires government contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel.
The lawsuit and the amicus brief argue that the law, H.B. 89, violates the First Amendment. The brief situates the Texas law as part of a broader effort to suppress speech in support of Palestinian human rights.
Texas State Capitol (Credit: Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash)
“In the past several years, increasing advocacy in support of Palestinian rights has been met with aggressive efforts by legislators, academic institutions, and others to suppress such speech, often at the urging of the Israeli government and Israel-aligned private groups,” the brief explains. “Anti-boycott legislation like H.B. 89 is one of the many tools intended to discourage and stop criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as it increasingly filters into the mainstream.”
In 2017, Texas passed a law requiring anyone who contracts with the state to sign a pledge that they do not and will not boycott Israel in order to get paid for their services.
In 2018, elementary school speech pathologist Bahia Amawi made headlines after she was unable to renew her contract for refusing to sign a pledge that she would not boycott Israel. Amawi and several other Texans sued the state for violating their First Amendment rights, in lawsuits brought by the ACLU and CAIR.
In a joint decision on the lawsuits, Judge Robert Pitman blocked enforcement of the law in April, citing First Amendment concerns.
In addition to filing an appeal with the Fifth Circuit, Texas responded by amending the law to exclude the plaintiffs from its reach, in an unsuccessful effort to end the lawsuit.
The brief describes how these laws fit into a broader campaign seeking to silence the movement for Palestinian rights – and how these laws are often misused.
Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights have documented censorship efforts on college campuses, against public libraries, and at other institutions. Advocates for Palestinian human rights have lost jobs and incomes, been punished, and faced harassment for their advocacy.
From 2014-2018, Palestine Legal responded to nearly 1,250 incidents of censorship, punishment, and other burdening of advocacy for Palestinian rights.
Read the amicus brief filed Tuesday by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal here.