Senator Schmitt Defends First Amendment Rights of UCLA Law Students

Schmitt Calls Out UCLA Administration for Violating Conservative Students' First Amendment Rights

U.S. SENATE - U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, sent a letter to UCLA Chancellor Dr. Julio Frenk and UCLA Dean Michael Waterstone demanding answers following recent violations of students' First Amendment and civil rights following the disruption of a student event hosted by the Federalist Society.

On April 21, the UCLA Law student chapter of the Federalist Society faced repeated disruptions from left-wing students while hosting a campus event. Although the disruptions violated multiple UCLA student-conduct policies, UCLA Law failed to discipline the students responsible, instead threatening Federalist Society students with disciplinary action if they released information about the disruptive student-activists.

"Rather than remedy that First Amendment violation and punish the students who violated school policy to disrupt their fellow classmates' event, UCLA Law instead compounded its First Amendment violation when Assistant Dean Bayrex Martí sent a threatening email to the Federalist Society students. That email to the Federalist Society students threatened them with "campus [disciplinary] process" if they released the names of the student-activists who disrupted the event.³ That email further violated the Federalist Society students' First Amendment rights because it was an attempt to impose a prior restraint on them through a viewpoint-discriminatory threat of retaliation if they engaged in constitutionally protected speech," wrote Senator Schmitt.

In the letter, Senator Schmitt requested responses to the following questions:

1. In a statement after the April 21 event, UCLA Law "is reviewing all policies and will take necessary steps to ensure student groups can host speakers in an environment of civil engagement."

a. What is the nature of this "review"?

b. What "necessary steps" will UCLA Law take to ensure that student groups can exercise their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association?

2. UCLA Law sent a follow-up email suggesting it could punish students for publishing the names of the disrupting students. Does UCLA Law continue to assert it can punish students for the protected speech of releasing the names of the disrupting students?

3. Will UCLA Law investigate whether Assistant Dean Martí or other administrators have engaged in other violations of the First Amendment, such as viewpoint discrimination?

Read Senator Schmitt's full letter HERE.

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[1] Letter from Jessie Appleby, Program Counsel, Campus Rights Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, to Michael Waterstone, Dean of UCLA School of Law (April 27, 2026) (FIRE Letter), https://www.fire.org/research-learn/fire-letter-university-california-los-angeles-school-law-april-27-2026.