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Free Speech

First Amendment Broadly Protects Against Speech-Based Deportation of Noncitizens, Court Rules

Eugene Volokh | 8.29.2026 6:25 PM

Some short excerpts from the >35K-word decision by Judge Noël Wise (N.D. Cal.) in Stanford Daily Pub. Corp. v. Rubio:

Plaintiffs, Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation and Jane Doe, a noncitizen student holding an F-1 visa issued by the United States, bring their claims against Marco Rubio, in his official capacity as Secretary of State, and Markwayne Mullin, in his official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security …. Plaintiffs allege that, since March 2025, the government has changed its immigration policy and pattern of enforcement, namely by arresting, detaining, and deporting students with F-1 visas when those students use their freedom of speech to express opinions that the government does not like—such as expressing support or empathy for Palestinian people, or criticizing Israel's actions regarding Palestine or the conflict in Gaza.

Plaintiffs argue that the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act … that the government relies on for its authority to cancel student visas and initiate deportation proceedings are unconstitutional…. [Those provisions are that an alien may be deported] if "… the Secretary of State personally determines that the alien's [presence] would compromise a compelling United States foreign policy interest" … [and that] "[a]fter the issuance of a visa or other documentation to any alien, the consular officer or the Secretary of State may at any time, in his discretion, revoke such visa or other documentation."

The court concluded that the First Amendment generally fully protects resident aliens pretty much the same way as it protects aliens:

The First Amendment acknowledges no "distinction between citizens and resident aliens." The right to freedom of speech, and its correlative protection from government retribution based on hostility towards speech, has generally been accorded to noncitizens living in the United States. Am.-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm. v. Reno ("AADC") (9th Cir. 1995); Bridges v. Wixon (1945) ("Freedom of speech and of press is accorded [to noncitizens] residing in this country.").

In AADC, the Ninth Circuit held the First Amendment prohibits deporting aliens for protected speech. As the court explained, "The Framers explicitly recognized that aliens within this country participate in a reciprocal relationship of societal obligations and correlative protection. 'As [aliens] owe, on one hand, a temporary obedience, they are entitled, in return, to their protection and advantage.'" Therefore, "the values underlying the........

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