The Liberty Justice Center and the Upper Midwest Law Center have announced a victory in Lackie v. Students United, a lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s requirement that students at the seven Minnesota State Universities pay mandatory student fees to fund the speech and activities of a private political organization.
Plaintiff Tayah Lackie recently graduated from St. Cloud State University, working through her time there in order to graduate without any student debt. Unbeknownst to her, however, policies set by the Minnesota State University system and St. Cloud State mandated that a portion of her student fees went directly to the private political organization Students United. On May 9, 2024, the Liberty Justice Center and Upper Midwest Law Center jointly filed a lawsuit on her behalf to challenge the actions of Students United, St. Cloud State University, and the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.
In a court order issued July 10, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota confirmed that Students United can be held accountable for violating students’ First Amendment rights by forcing them to fund political speech. Although Students United is a private organization on paper, the court found that it qualifies as a state actor in this case because it has a special right to student fees in state law and works jointly with the government to collect those fees.
The order dismissed Lackie’s claims against St. Cloud State and the Board, allowing the claims against Students United to proceed and the fight for Minnesota students’ First Amendment rights to continue.
“This decision confirms what the Supreme Court held in Janus v. AFSCME—the First Amendment protects individuals when the government gives third party private actors the power to force people to fund their political speech,” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel and Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center.
“Forcing students to fund political speech they disagree with as a condition of attending a public university is a violation of the First Amendment, plain and simple,” said Alexandra Howell of the Upper Midwest Law Center. “With this decision, we can now move forward in this case and hold Students United accountable for collecting money from students to fund its political advocacy.”
“This is a great first step towards bringing this issue to light,” said plaintiff Tayah Lackie. “I’m so thankful that I have a wonderful team working alongside me to fight for our First Amendment rights as students.”
The case will now proceed to discovery. Legal filings in Lackie v. Students United are available here.
The Liberty Justice Center and Upper Midwest Law Center remain committed to defending the First Amendment and fighting against coerced speech in all contexts.