The Trump administration is jumping into the fracas over free speech at UC Berkeley.
The Justice Department on Thursday filed a statement of interest supporting two conservative groups who sued the school last year. The groups alleged that administrators and campus events policy unfairly hampered their ability to book right-leaning speakers like Ann Coulter and ultimately led to the events being canceled or modified.
Associate Atty. Gen. Rachel Brand wrote in a Fox News opinion piece that certain Berkeley policies relating to location restrictions — among other things — are onerous and applied selectively. “It doesn’t require much creativity to turn this policy into a heckler’s veto,” she wrote Thursday.
She criticized the policies of several colleges across the country but was sure to single out Berkeley.
