ANTI-BDS LAW RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL IN TEXAS
JERUSALEM POST STAFF
This opinion runs counter to the binding Supreme Court precedent that ruled that ideological boycotts are not speech at all.
The Texas House of Representatives in Austin, TX. (photo credit: REUTERS)
A federal judge ruled last week that Texas’s anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions law is unconstitutional.
A report published by the Jewish syndication service JNS quoted US District Judge Robert Pittman as explaining that, “At the heart of the First Amendment lies the principle that each person should decide for him or herself the ideas and beliefs deserving of expression, consideration and adherence….The purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular[,]” is “to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation—and their ideas from suppression—at the hands of an intolerant society.”
This opinion runs counter to the binding Supreme Court precedent that ruled that ideological boycotts are not speech at all, the article explained.
A few weeks ago, Texas lawmakers voted to amend a law banning business with Israel boycotters after the application of the law was vexed by several incidents and at least one lawsuit.