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April 25, 2017 BERKELEY, Calif.AnnCoulteris now at the center of a civil rights lawsuit filed Monday against the University of California, Berkeley by students who say the school is violating their right to free speech by canceling the conservative pundit's speaking event on campus this week.

The lawsuit marks the latest twist in a high-profile debate over whether Ms. Coulterwill be allowed to speak Thursday at UC Berkeley, which has been known for decades as a bastion of free speech and tolerance and the birthplace of the 1960s Free Speech Movement.

A legal team led by Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco attorney who is also a prominent California Republican, filed the case on behalf of the Berkeley College Republicans, who invitedCoulter, and the Young America's Foundation, which is helping to organize and finance the event.

"Berkeley is well known as a place where ideas used to be welcome. At least on the conservative side. At least until this recent election," Ms. Dhillon told a news conference after filing the lawsuit at the US District Court in San Francisco. "The university is required to give equal access to speakers of different viewpoints."

The lawsuit says that Berkeley is trying "to restrict and stifle the speech of conservative students whose voices fall beyond the campus political orthodoxy."

Dhillon is also a committeewoman to the Republican National Convention for California and former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party.

Campus Republicans invitedCoulterto speak at Berkeley this Thursday, but Berkeley officials informed the group last week that the event was being called off for security concerns.

The university then backtracked and offered an alternate date, butCoulterhas insisted that she plans to still come Thursday. It remains unclear where she would hold the event, and no details have been publicized.

Coulteris not a plaintiff on the lawsuit. But she voiced support for it on Twitter, posting Monday that the lawsuit "demands appropriate & safe venue for my speech THIS THURSDAY."

The university's attempt to call off the event came after a series of violent clashes this year on campus and in downtown Berkeley between far-right and far-left protesters.

The lawsuit demands unstated damages and compensation for attorney fees, a trial by jury and an injunction against Berkeley officials from "restricting the exercise of political expression on the UC Berkeley campus."

It names four university officials as defendants, including University of California President Janet Napolitano and Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks, and three police officials, including university police chief Margo Bennett.

The University of California president's office issued a statement saying it welcomes speakers of all political viewpoints and "is committed to providing a forum to enableAnnCoulterto speak on the Berkeley campus."

"The campus seeks to ensure that all members of the Berkeley and larger community including Ms.Coulterherself remain safe during such an event."

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Ann Coulter backers sue UC Berkeley over cancellation (+video) - Christian Science Monitor

BERKELEY The furor over whether conservative pundit Ann Coulter willget a chance to speak at UC Berkeley this week continued to grow on Monday, with a conservative student group suing the university and Coultersuggesting she may show up Thursday even if shes not offered a venue to speak.

With the First Amendment clash drawing national attention, Coulter tweeted on Monday, Nice day for an outdoor speech at Berkeley, accompanied by four days of weather forecasts, Tuesday through Friday.

The university continues to maintain that it never agreed to provide a speaking venue to Coulter for this Thursday, cannot guarantee her security on that day, and has offered an alternative date May 2 for her to speak.

At a news conference Monday at the San Francisco office of Dhillon Law Group Inc., Harmeet Dhillon, attorney for Berkeley College Republicans and Tennessee-based Young Americas Foundation, said UC Berkeley abruptly canceled Coulters scheduled speech for this Thursday after weeks of discussion and a lot of back and forth. But UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said later on Monday thatthe event was never canceled, because it was never scheduled, because we were unable to identify a venue. All suitable venues had previously been booked, he said.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Monday against UC Berkeley officials and University of California President Janet Napolitano, Dhillon seeks a judicial declaration that the university has violated her clients Constitutional rights under the First and Fourteenth amendments by selectively enforcing the High-Profile Speaker Policy against (Berkeley College Republicans) and (Young Americas Foundation), which unreasonably restricts the time, place and manner of political speech. The complaint also seeks an injunction against the applicationof any policies that restrict political expression on the UC Berkeley campus, as well as the awarding of attorneysfees and court costs.

At the news conference, Dhillonreiterated and expounded on many of the allegations in the suit and in letters she wrote to the university on Friday.

She accused the university of having come up with the high-profile speaker policy recently and secretly and using it to silence two of her clients speakers Coulter and, earlier this month, conservative writer David Horowitz while allowing a former Clinton administration official and former Mexican President Vicente Fox, a critic of President Donald Trump, to speak.

She also accused UC Berkeley police of standing down during violent protests against a scheduled Feb. 1 appearance by former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulosthat was canceled shortly before it was supposed to start, after a group of masked protesters smashed windows at the student union building and set fires outside. She cited the Yiannopoulos cancellation as an example of the exercise of the hecklers veto,a legal doctrine in which thegovernment prevents a public speech or event on threats of interruptions, protests or violence.

The university is feeling increasing pressure from both the left and right to respect and defend Coulters free speech rights, with both liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and liberal comedian Bill Maher speaking out in recent days. In an interview on Fox News on Saturday, Coulter said she was still optimistic she would be allowed to speak Thursday.

I dont think it should be that hard to arrange, Ive done it hundreds of times, gone to college campuses she said.

Dianne Klein, the University of Californias associate vice president for strategic communications andmedia relations, said in a statement Monday that the university welcomesspeakers of all political viewpoints and is committed to providing a forum to enable Ann Coulter to speak on the Berkeley campus.

The allegation that Ms. Coulter is being prohibited from speaking because of her conservative views is untrue, Klein said, adding that the university is working to finda mutually agreeable time for Coulter to appear, while ensuring Coulters and the university and larger communitys safety.

At a news conference last week, UC Berkeley police Capt. Alex Yao said very specific and credible threats of violence had been received in connection with the announced Coulter event for Thursday.

Dhillon has said the alternate, two-hour, afternoon time window on May 2 that the university had offered is unacceptable because, among other reasons, students will not be in class that day and will be studying for finals.

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Lawsuit filed against UC Berkeley over Ann Coulter event - The Mercury News

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Berkeley College Republicans Sue School Over Ann Coulter Speech Wall Street Journal (subscription) Conservative students at the University of California, Berkeley, who are seeking a venue this week for a speech by conservative commentator Ann Coulter, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday against the school. The suit claims the action is ...

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Berkeley College Republicans Sue School Over Ann Coulter Speech - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Inside Higher Ed

New round in debate over Ann Coulter and her right to speak at Berkeley Inside Higher Ed The fight over whether and when Ann Coulter will speak at the University of California, Berkeley, did not end with the university's invitation to her to speak there May 2. Before that invitation was extended, the university had said it could not allow ... UC Berkeley reschedules Ann Coulter talk -- and raises thorny legal questionPBS NewsHour UC Berkeley students threaten to sue over Ann Coulter visitFox News Lawyer For College Republicans In Berkeley Says University Is Denying Free Speech For Canceling Ann CoulterCBS Philly TheBlaze.com -New Republic -Washington Post -Young America's Foundation all 259 news articles »

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New round in debate over Ann Coulter and her right to speak at Berkeley - Inside Higher Ed

Conservative firebrand Ann Coulter found an unlikely ally in Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over the weekend when the self-described democratic-socialist defended Coulters right to speak on a college campus.

The University of California, Berkeley last week canceled an event where Coulter was scheduled to speak, citing security concerns. University officials fearthat Coulters presence on campus will incite another round ofviolent protests similar to what happened in February something the school and city have become accustomed to in recent months.

Given currently active security threats, it is not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully or that the safety of Ms. Coulter, the event sponsors, audience, and bystanders could be adequately protected at any of the campus venues, university officials said.

But Sanders doesnt believe that what happened to Coulter is right. The former presidential candidate said Coulter should be allowed to speak on campus without fear of violence or intimidation.

I dont like this. I dont like it, he told the Huffington Post last week when asked about the situation.

Obviously, Ann Coulters outrageous to my mind, off the wall. But you know, people have a right to give their two cents-worth, give a speech, without fear of violence and intimidation, he explained.

In recent years, students, mostly liberal and progressive in their politics and worldview, have organized in force to protest conservative speakers claiming that their hate speech shouldnt be allowed on campus. Of course, the hate speech they refer to is hardly hateful and more often than not just an idea or opinion that the students disagree with.

Still, students have beendetermined to take whatever steps necessary to shut down speakers they disagree with and whom they deem bring hate to their campus. Its all in the name of silencing fascists, the students claim.

But Sanders disagrees. He told the Huffington Post that its just a sign the students are intellectual lightweights.

To me, its a sign of intellectual weakness, he said. If you cant ask Ann Coulter in a polite way questions which expose the weakness of her arguments, if all you can do is boo, or shut her down, or prevent her from coming, what does that tell the world?

What are you afraid of her ideas? Ask her the hard questions. Confront her intellectually, Sanders said. Booing people down, or intimidating people, or shutting down events, I dont think that that works in any way.

Sanders isnt the only noted liberal to come to Coulters defense in recent days. HBO Real Time host Bill Maher slammed the university on his show Friday and labeled the students f***ing babies.

Berkeley used to be the cradle of free speech, and now its just the cradle for f***ing babies, Maher said. I feel like this is the liberal version of book burning and its got to stop.

University officials have since rescheduled Coulters speech for May 2, a day when students will be deep in books studying for final exams.

Coulter, however, is insistent on giving her speech on Thursday, the originally scheduled day.

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Ann Coulter finds unlikely ally in powerful liberal politician after Berkeley cancels speech - TheBlaze.com