
What do you do when the facts and the law aren’t on your side? Throw money at the problem!
Tenured law school professor Ken Levy of Louisiana State University was suspended from teaching his students because of comments he made about state governor Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump. Campus free speech advocates immediately hounded the school for penalizing Prof. Levy (as they should have). A judge also sided with Levy, ordering the school to let him return to teaching. You might think that the trouble would end there, but that’s what you get for expecting the school to respond reasonably.
LSU decided to throw money at the problem and appeal the judge’s decision. And it was crazy enough to work! WAFB has coverage:
The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal sided with LSU Tuesday, agreeing that the university does not have to immediately return embattled LSU law professor Ken Levy to the classroom at this time.
The court said an evidentiary hearing must be held before deciding whether a temporary restraining order (TRO) previously issued by District Court Judge Don Johnson should be enforced. That hearing is scheduled for February 10, 2025.
Johnson issued the TRO last week, ordering LSU to return Levy to the classroom immediately. He was set to return to his class Tuesday afternoon.
Is this really LSU’s best use of the money they get from student tuition, donations and tax payers? What’s the endgame on going to court so you can punish a professor for dropping an F bomb toward a governor or a president? An earnest “Hey, come on man” would have been a better play than ripping a professor out of his classroom and taking him to court twice over such a minor infraction. I’m sure this falling out is great for his colleagues morale. And what about the students? If a tenured professor can get in this much trouble for an off-the-cuff F you, what protections do the students have to speak their mind? This seems to be a short sighted conflict — you’d expect a more judicious application of spending and sense from a law school.
First Circuit Sides With LSU In Law Professor Case [WAFB]
Earlier: Judge Order Puts Tenured Professor Back In Classroom

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.