The ACLU of Mississippi, Mississippi Center for Justice, Badat Legal and Quinn, Connor, Weaver, Davies & Rouco LLP, filed a federal lawsuit against the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, Mississippi Community College Board, Mississippi State Board of Education, and the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of House Bill 1193 of the 2025 legislative session, including a provision prohibiting public colleges, universities and K-12 schools from “engag[ing]” in “any formal or informal education . . . that focus[es] on increasing awareness or understanding of issues related to race, sex, color, gender identity, sexual orientation or national origin.” This case is brought by students, parents, educators, and organizations that collectively represent the interests of those whose rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution are violated by this law.
According to the complaint, House Bill 1193, signed into law on April 17, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution by imposing the State government’s preferred views on matters of public concern - like race, gender and sexuality - on students, educators and families across Mississippi and censoring contrary views. In addition, the complaint alleges that some of the provisions of the law are so vague and contradictory that students and educators do not know what they can and cannot do at school. This vagueness allows officials to enforce the law in an arbitrary and discriminatory fashion.
In addition to its free speech restrictions and its vagueness, the law leaves teachers and potentially students open to a wide array of potential punishments for alleged violations. The law requires schools to “cure” any alleged violations without stating what a “cure” would require. Consequences of alleged violations by a teacher could be as severe as termination, and violations by a student could lead to expulsion. The law also provides that if a school district, community college, junior college or university is found to have committed two more uncured violations, all state funding will be withdrawn leading to potential school closures and termination for all employees.
The law also calls for the relevant statewide boards of education to establish a formal complaint process for any student, parent, faculty member, staff member, or contractor to accuse any administrator, teacher, or student of a violation, opening the door to a wave of ideological attacks by people who disagree with the political beliefs of others. School officials will be required to investigate these accusations to determine who said what to whom, what they meant, and whether each statement is a violation of these broadly worded and vague free-speech prohibitions.
Plaintiffs in this case are asking the federal court in Jackson find various provisions of the law to be unconstitutional in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the Plaintiffs and to issue a preliminary injunction to immediately prevent the law from being enforced, followed later by a permanent injunction.
