LSU must immediately allow law professor Ken Levy to return to teaching, an East Baton Rouge Parish district judge ruled Thursday morning.
Under a temporary restraining order issued by Judge Donald Johnson, LSU cannot infringe on Levy’s “rights to free speech and due process of laws.” And the school must avoid “further harassing or retaliating” against Levy “on account of his protected academic freedom and free speech.”
Levy on Tuesday sued the university, accusing it of violating his constitutionally protected free speech, academic freedom, and employment and due process rights.
He did so after receiving a Jan. 17 letter from LSU’s human resources department advising him that he was immediately suspended from teaching “pending an investigation into student complaints of inappropriate statements made in your class.”
During the first day of a criminal law course, Levy criticized Gov. Jeff Landry for publicly rebuking another law school professor, Nicholas Bryner, according to legal filings in the case.
Levy said “F*** the governor” in front of students “in a joking manner,” according to court documents filed on Levy’s behalf. He also told students he was a Democrat and gave his “rather colorful opinion” on the outcome of the November presidential election.
A court date is set for Feb. 10 to hear testimony and evidence in the case. A temporary restraining order is in effect for the time being.
What did they expect when they hired him – just look at his bibliography on his profile page !
Selected Publications
Books
Ken Levy, Free Will, Responsibility, and Crime, 1st ed. (Routledge 2020).
Link to Purchase
Law Review Articles
The First Amendment in Education: May Public Schools Discipline Faculty for Political Hate Speech?, 33 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 169-207 (Oct. 2024).
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Ken Levy, Normative Ignorance: A Critical Connection Between the Insanity and Mistake of Law Defenses, 47 Florida State University L. Rev. 411 (2019).
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Ken Levy, Why the Late Justice Scalia Was Wrong: The Fallacies of Constitutional Textualism, 21 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 45 (2017).
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Ken Levy, Does Situationism Excuse? The Implications of Situationism for Moral Responsibility and Criminal Responsibility, 68 Ark. L. Rev. 775 (2015).
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Ken Levy, It’s Not Too Difficult: A Plea to Resurrect the Impossibility Defense, 45 N.M. L. Rev. 225 (2014).
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Ken Levy, Why Retributivism Needs Consequentialism: The Rightful Place of Revenge in the Criminal Justice System, 66 Rutgers L. Rev. 629 (2014).
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Ken Levy, Dangerous Psychopaths: Criminally Responsible But Not Morally Responsible, Subject to Criminal Punishment And to Preventive Detention, 48 San Diego L. Rev. 1299 (2011).
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Ken Levy, Killing, Letting Die, and the Case for Mildly Punishing Bad Samaritanism, 44 Georgia Law Review 607 (2010).
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Ken Levy, Gonzales v. Oregon and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Ethical and Policy Issues, 42 Tulsa Law Review 699 (2007).
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Ken Levy, The Solution to the Real Blackmail Paradox: The Common Link Between Blackmail and Other Criminal Threats, 39 Connecticut Law Review 1051 (2007).
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Ken Levy, The Solution to the Problem of Outcome Luck: Why Harm Is Just as Punishable as the Wrongful Action that Causes It, 24 Law and Philosophy 263 (2005).
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Philosophy Articles
Levy, Ken, On Three Arguments Against Metaphysical Libertarianism. Review of Metaphysics 76: 725-48 (June 2023)
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Levy, Ken, Let’s Not Do Responsibility Skepticism. Journal of Applied Philosophy 40, 458-73 (July 2023)
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Levy, Ken, Trying to Make Sense of Criminal Attempts. Jurisprudence 7: 656-64 (2016)
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Levy, Ken, Blocking Blockage. Philosophia 44:565-82 (2016)
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Levy, Ken, On the Rationalist Solution to Gregory Kavka’s Toxin Puzzle. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 90: 267-289 (2009)
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Levy, Ken, The Solution to the Surprise Exam Paradox. Southern Journal of Philosophy 47:131-58 (2009)
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Levy, Ken, Baumann on the Monty Hall Problem and Single-Case Probabilities. Synthese 158: 139-51 (2007)
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Levy, Ken, Why It is Sometimes Fair to Blame Agents for Unavoidable Actions and Omissions. American Philosophical Quarterly 42: 93-104 (2005)
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Levy, Ken, Is Descartes a Temporal Atomist? British Journal for the History of Philosophy 13: 627-74. (2005)
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Levy, Ken, The Main Problem with USC Libertarianism. Philosophical Studies 105: 107-127 (2001)
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Levy, Ken, Hume, the New Hume, and Causal Connections. Hume Studies 26: 41-75 (2000)
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