A Supreme Court judge has ruled 8-1 in favor of a former student at Georgia’s public Gwinnet College who was banned from preaching the Gospel on campus. Chike Uzuegbunam was first banned in 2016 by the school from preaching and sharing Gospel tracts at an outdoor plaza on campus.
At two specific areas, Uzuegbunam was informed that free speech was prohibited. Nevertheless, he proceeded with his preaching at those areas. Afterwards, he was informed by Campus police that he was breaching the Student Code of Conduct because the areas he went evangelizing were not for ‘’open-speaking.’’
Uzuegbunam considered the action by the school as a violation of his constitutional right to freedom of speech. Hence, he sued the school. Although the school reversed its policy to permit preaching, the case was still pursued.
This was because the school did not accept a penalty for the damages they caused. Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom, who represented the plaintiff before high court, stated that students had lost the chance to get those days back to preach the gospel to their mates.
The decision made by the 11th U.S Court of Appeals was reversed by the Supreme who ruled in favor of Uzuegbunam. In respect to the high court’s ruling, the case was remanded for further hearings, the Christian Post reports.
Justice Clarence Thomas said while giving the Supreme Court’s majority opinion. “For purposes of this appeal, it is undisputed that Uzuegbunam experienced a completed violation of his constitutional rights when respondents enforced their speech policies against him. Because ‘every violation [of a right] imports damage’ … nominal damages can redress Uzuegbunam’s injury even if he cannot or chooses not to quantify that harm in economic terms.”
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