Federal court blocks use of student visa revocations and deportation provisions against protected speech
Until this week, some federal officials apparently operated under the theory that an F-1 visa functions as a constitutional mute button. A judge in the Northern District of California corrected that error on August 28, blocking two immigration provisions to the extent they punish protected speech — the First Amendment apparently applying to noncitizens on campus in a way that stunned precisely no constitutional law professor. The Stanford Daily and a student brought the case; the government's purported compelling interest failed to convince anyone, least of all the judge, that revoking someone's education for talking smack is a sacred national priority. The ruling is refreshingly narrow: only speech the Constitution actually protects is safe, which scandalously leaves open deportation for the unprotected kind — libel, incitement, and whatever the official version of 'being annoying' turns out to be.
